


The Second Coming: The Walking Dead: Season Six.

by LastRitex



Category: The Walking Dead (Telltale Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Canon Lesbian Relationship, Canon-Typical Violence, Death, F/F, F/M, Gen, Gore, Horror, Inspired by The Walking Dead (Telltale Video Game), Multi, Post-Canon, Romance, Survival, Zombies
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-07
Updated: 2020-01-04
Packaged: 2020-05-16 18:16:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 10
Words: 47,225
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19323499
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LastRitex/pseuds/LastRitex
Summary: With trust in outsiders at an all time low, Clementine and the rest of the survivors struggle to co-exist with their new house mate Nate and the four girls rescued from The Homecoming and their nefarious leader Alaric. However the new additions will prove to be the least of their problems as things become far more precarious for the group with potential threats both new and old descending upon their haven.Life and death decisions will be forced upon them, ones that could well see the last safe place on earth left nothing but another burning pile of rubble for the Walkers to infest. Join Clementine and the other survivors once again in my sequel to Salvation: The Walking Dead - Season Five as The Second Coming: The Walking Dead is now in motion. Thanks for reading.





	1. Chain of Events - Part One: Under Lock and No Key.

[](http://i.imgur.com/uWxfI5a)

[](http://i.imgur.com/PCRFjQ0)

*

Clementine eased herself down onto a set of tires to her left, wincing as she did so. Listening absent-mindedly to the sound of crickets chirping away in the reeds by the creek she started to unbutton her jeans.

Violet looked back; muted concern on her face. "You Okay, Clem?"

"Yeah, the frictions just getting a little much." She said without looking up, instead lightly drawing her finger across the scabbed over incisions that littered her upper thigh.

She could feel Violets judgemental stare as she inspected the wounds closer. They were still weeping, but healing nonetheless.

"They'd heal quicker if you stayed put at home, you know." Violet said stating the obvious. Clementine smiled.

"Home?" She repeated, now looking up to meet Violets eyes. They had only crossed the threshold to bunker at The Greenbrier four days ago after all.

"Anywhere is home with you, Clementine" Violet replied, as though there would never be anything she uttered with more certainty. 

She stood with her arms folded, back to the creek that blocked any further passage forward without submerging themselves past their knees if they wanted to cross.

Clementine blushed with a fierceness in her heart for the girl and a matching faith in her words  "I love you, so much." She said. Violet pursed her lips, her tongue pushing against one side of her cheek as her eyes narrowed.

Clementine could tell she was trying to subdue a smile of her own.

"Don't change the subject. You know you shouldn't be out here until you can walk again without the limp." She scolded, her eyes flitting back to Clementines exposed thigh as she resolved to cover the wounds up with spare gauze.

"I know." Clementine started guiltily. "But I made a deal and I'm seeing it through." Rising up off her perch, she hiked her jeans back up; standing unevenly as she buttoned them closed again.

"And I'm sure they can wait. I mean it's not like they haven't already spent who knows how long like they have." Violet said, surprisingly cold to the plight of the once captive girls they now sought to release from their literal shackles.

"That's not fair, Vi. They might have their freedom, but they aren't free until we can separate them from each other. I promised them that. No one else." Clementine said steadfast in her commitment.

And yet it didn't change how deeply uninviting the creek looked to them both, even after traversing much worse bodies of water in their journey to The Greenbrier. 

It left the partners instead opting to sit back down by the waters edge, legs overhanging the shallow drop and fingers threaded through one anothers as Clementine eyed up their next destination; a farmhouse silhouetted in the distance.

Violet exhaled deeply as she apologised. "I'm sorry. I know it must feel like I'm nagging... or whatever." 

Clementine however shook her head fervently, squeezing her hand for reassurance. "You just want me to get better, faster. I know that."

Violets smokey tone came again, though her apology had done nothing to change her pouting-disposition. "I just don't see why it always has to be you... is all. You're always the one out here - and I know you promised, but they could at least search with us."

The truth was that despite the fact Clementine had been running on empty physically for an hour or two now, she was glad for the fact they weren't trawling the nearby towns with Emryn and the other three in toe. 

In fact it was something Clementine had ensured unbeknownst to Violet as day one and beyond in the bunker had been trying. Where once they'd only had Lilly and Minnie to reign back in, that number had doubled since Emryn and Nate had begrudgingly become part of the family.

Clementine, emotionally exhausted from the pilgrimage to their haven had quickly recognised the ill-fated inevitability that personalities new and old would find themselves vying for supremacy in the bunker.

In fact the atmosphere beneath the prestigious resort had become so toxic in such a short space of time that Clementine had opted to hobble around on her one good leg for the better part of a week looking for a set of bolt cutters than stay cooped up with so many explosive personalities for more than one hot minute.

Still Clementine found herself concealing this reasoning as Violet was just as likely to start fires if she knew that anyone was making her life difficult.

"They pulled Emryn's shoulder from its socket, Vi. She wouldn't have been much use, and won't be for a while. The others, well - if one stays behind they all stay behind." Clementine shrugged.

"Can we at least call it a day today? We've been out here hours. They can't say we haven't tried. Besides, I'm hungry." Violet bemoaned after a few minutes, rubbing her stomach; though Clementine found it was her own whose audibly rumbled. 

Selfishly she found herself wanting to push on. Emryn had remained adamant in her desire to relinquish her place at The Greenbrier due to the admittedly shared belief of her chained neighbours that those who imprisoned them would return with reinforcements.

Granting her this possibility appeared to be the best outcome for all as she'd undeniably played her part in the strained atmosphere since they'd negotiated their way past Nate's solitude.

"Emryn isn't going to be happy" She replied in defeat as her stomach grumbled with greater impatience.

"Yeah? Well I will be!" Violet implored with a stern look on her face before relaxing it slightly when she realised how easily she was snapping.

"Like I said, we're miles out. It's late. You've spent every day so far looking for something to get them free with. There's only so many hours in a day, Clem." She stood, allowing Clementine to join her with help.

Pecking her on one of her flushing cheeks Clementine then allowed herself to be wheeled round by the crook of her elbow, leaving the farmhouse at their backs. Violet was right.

*

A deep blue-pink dusk had started to cloak them by the time they arrived back onto the sprawling grounds of The Greenbrier; a labored pace as Clementine failed to hide the sting in her step.

Thankfully despite Violets over exaggeration the two hadn't been exceptionally far from the neglected gardens of their 'home' having spent the previous three days scavenging within the walls of The Greenbrier for anything that would aid them in their task.

Unfortunately each and every corner of the seven hundred and ten rooms, fourty plus meeting rooms and ten lobbies had left them empty handed aside from a small haul of knife kits found in the kitchen of one of its restaurants.

They would certainly come in handy against future threats (and dicing up fresh meat when they were bored of trail mix), but were rendered utterly useless for cutting through chain links.

Having dragged themselves up the grand but weathered steps and through the overturned main lobby they began to navigate the still yet unfamiliar halls.  
Clementine had become rather adept at memorizing floor plans near instantly over the years but the resort tested this ability considerably. The place was a certifiable labrynth.

Eventually though they found themselves facing the twenty tonne reinforced steel door having replaced the sliding panel concealing it from view. Violet used sore looking knuckles to rap hard upon it in a pattern insisted upon by the ever meticulous Lilly. 

Then they waited idly as someone on the other side shuffled into position before exherting themselves heavily as they heaved it open, though only wide enough for the two to slip through. All required to lend their weight to re-seal it again.

"Thanks Louis." Clementine said as she moved past him to start the long decent down the stairs.

"No luck?" He asked, the tails of his new white lab coat flapping behind him as he followed them. It didn't help his self proclaimed fashionista status but a pair of thick black glasses could have definitely given off an air of intelligence that he would never actually possess.

"Negative, Doctor." Violet quipped showing Louis nothing but the fingers on both of her bare hands. 

"Bummer." He responded, condolences in knowing the grief it could potentially cause Clementine when she fed the bad news back to Emryn in particular.

The sound of their footsteps echoed off the walls as they continued in silence, though Clementine was sure she could hear Louis searching internally for something to fill it with.

He was spared the self imposed burden however as they reached the bottom most level beneath the hotel, some seven hundred feet into the hillside, there making quick and concise decisions to splinter off for their own causes.

"I'm gonna go wash up, alright babe?" Violet said touching Clementines hip and leaning in for a kiss.

"Yeah, I'll be with you soon." She replied wearily, fighting the urge to follow her there and then. She afforded Louis a nod before skulking off in search of the four cohorts.

She allowed her gaze to swing left and then right like a pendulum as she passed room after room on her way, though she found that locating her targets proved more time consuming than she'd have anticipated before moving in.

Despite Lillys prior claims about the capacity of the place Clementine had still found herself floored at just how vast it had turned out to be. 

There were no less than eighteen dormitories with one thousand, one hundred beds (AJ had taken it upon himself to count every last one, impressing Clem in the process by counting that high unaided.)

A cafeteria to house and feed the same number, a clinic with fully equipped operating rooms, a labratory, several board rooms and even decontamination chambers - as well as enough space and apparatus to house thousands of gallons of water and fuel. All this and still Clementine knew she had not seen everything it had to offer. 

Even the most well constructed and fortified communities in Wellington and Richmond now looked all too rudimentary in hindsight. Humanity could have a real chance inside these walls.

Clementine hesitated as she passed Lilly; hunched over a table in what looked to her like an office for one of the big dogs of the top wrungs of the Government had they ever been fortunate enough to have made it. 

The groups collective firepower sat laid out in pieces as she resolved to give them some much needed maintenance. 

"Clementine" She said, an observation rather than a quest for confirmation as she handled an already suitably sooted toothbrush taken from one of the many bathrooms; proceeding to use it to scrub free any residue that may formed inside the pistol held in her other hand.

"Do you ever take a break?" Clementine said, a playfulness in her tone as she hovered in the doorway. 

Lilly looked up momentarily to raise an eyebrow in her direction. "Do _You_?" The flickering flame from a burning candle lit her sunken features as she spoke.

She continued with a self-satisfied clearing of the throat when Clementine failed to find a viable retort to the accusation. "Run into anything?"

"Any-"

"Any _one_ " Lilly corrected herself in a tone that said she shouldn't have needed to. Clementine didn't have to ponder her reply this time.

"Well we made it to the creek without seeing a soul. Doesn't mean there were non in hiding as we passed through though." She added, accounting for the possibility.

"Anyone close enough to this place would be all over it. So I'd say we're good on that front for now." Lilly replied as Clementine watched her blow into the crook of the gun before setting it back down. "Did you notice if the twins were back?"

"Haven't seen them, but I've not been back more than a few minutes myself. Louis followed us down so I assume he's not waiting on them?" Clem surmised. "AJ?"

"Flat out in one of the dorms last I saw. Tired himself out trying to kick a hole in the wall." Lilly said matter of factly.  
Clementine sighed. She thought she'd gotten through to him about that kind of emotional outlet.

"Do you know why?" She asked.

"He wanted to go out and sit with the girls while they talked to Tenn. But Minerva blew him off. So he blew up." She paused, calculating. "I'd have sorted him out but then I remembered I don't need the hassle. Not to mention the grief you'd give me for my methods."

She flicked her palm in the air swiftly but Clementine already knew exactly what her methods would have entailed without the demonstration and declined to pay it any mind.

"Emryn?" She asked again, reluctantly reaching the pressing matter.

"The Imps been kind enough to keep herself to herself today. She could have had another dust up with Nate but if she has I haven't heard it. You need me to come with?" Lilly added, affording a rare show of empathy.

Clementine shook her head no. "I'm not planning on dragging it out." Lilly placed both of her palms flat on the table top then so she could push her wrists a little further than they would normally go, the cracking of knuckles following.

"You know, its the other three I feel sorry for. Girls got a mouth to match her chokehold. I say we save you the time and slam the door with her on the other side of it. Then she can stay there when the chain breaks. Everyone's happy." She waited for Clementine to agree enthusiastically but when it didn't come she shrugged as if to say 'your loss'.

"You'll find 'em in Block E." She said, this time in a tone that suggested the conversation ended there. Clementine, content that it had done, lightly thumped the door frame to announce her exit. 

One more conversation to get through before she could fall into bed with Violet she thought. Her empty stomach could wait, though its wail implored otherwise. She passed deeper into the bunker, lazily noting each sign screwed into the wall above the arches she left in her wake; concern for AJ nipped at the edge of her mind.

It was far from the first time she'd had to overcome obstacles in his development, and despite an ever increasing confidence recently that rescuing him from the ranch had been justified, she worried over his apparent regression.

Kicking the stuffing out of walls in times of frustration was something they had worked through or so she thought. However along with her resolve to address AJ she drew up a mental note to catch Minnie too.

Clementine realised that emotions were still extremely raw for Minerva and her sister Sophie after the death of their younger brother, and her sympathy would never cease, but casting aside the living in mourning the dead could only serve to isolate more of their number from each other.

She sighed deeply as Block E caught her eye, such was her hesitancy to deliver the bad news to the four girls, though her pace only slowed a mere half step; for she had given much worse news to much dearer people in her short time.

She found the four inside, each lying down on one of their own bunks, such was the surprisingly close proximity of each considering the spaciousness the rest of the bunker retained. 

The two tiered metal frames lined each other from one end to the other with just enough space for a tiny set of drawers between for any personal affects.

Kacey noticed her presence first as Clementines shadow cast itself on the ceiling above where she lay. Propping herself up on two boney elbows she scanned over Clementine excitedly from beneath a thick mane of matted dirty blonde hair.

That excitement dissipated within a moment however as she realised it would be at least another twenty four hours spent with a chain digging into already emaciated hips. 

Though her disappointment was palpable she still tried to conceal it; affording Clementine a half hearted smile before throwing herself back down, likely bracing  herself for Emryn's inevitable blowup.

The prospect of her petulance was such that Clementine had started to toy with the idea of simply slinking back out the way she'd entered, however she wasn't afforded the time to act on the notion as Kaceys movement had disturbed the one she'd sought to avoid.

There was a rattle as Emryn sat up, swinging her legs to sit side saddle on the edge of her bunk; the sudden pull of the connecting chain-links causing Danika to squark as they pinched her tawny skin, waking her from an apparent slumber.

Emryn neglected to apologise, instead letting out a puff of contempt through a button-like nose that failed to belie the anger visibly bubbling under her pallid complexion. In fact Clementine had barely been afforded the time to open her mouth before Emryn voiced her discontent. 

"Save it." She said, slightly raspy still as the remnants of smoke from the fire on the bridge less than a week prior clung valiantly to her throat. "You know, you can't keep me here."

"I'm not trying to" Clementine flushed angrily at Emryn's ludicrous leap, any shred of hope for an amicable exchange vanishing instantly.  "I've spent the last four days hoping to do the exact opposite!"

"Classy. And you could've fooled me." Emryn answered to the lack of tact Clementine allowed to slip through. She was now way past the point of being easily pricked into a confrontation.

"I can't just pull a set of bolt cutters out of my ass, Emryn. I'm putting in the effort, it's just taking longer than I expected!" She said to the room now as Lacey-Mae peeked over Emryns shoulder, her hair perpetually falling over her right eye.

"Don't worry Clem. We know you're trying. And we're grateful-" she started before her small voice was lost underneath Emryn's scoffing.

"What exactly do we have to be grateful for!?" She said incredulous, flinching as she threw her arms out, her severely tender shoulder giving her discomfort. "Another day living like a set of siamese quads!? Another trip to the bathroom so we can listen to each other take a dump!? I can't take this anymore. Those freaks are going to come back and we're Tom Turkeys here..."

Danika, who had been nursing her pinched side devolved suddenly into a fit of sniggering, causing the others to momentarily abandon their argument as they waited for her explanation.

"The fuck?" Emryn asked, decidedly miffed and demanding.

Danika brought a hand up in an attempt to stifle herself, but it was to no avail; she continued to laugh beneath it. "S-sorry! It's just- Tom- Tom Turkey!? Who the hell runs with that?" 

Clementine watched on as Emryn's pointed ears begin to turn red at the tips, far too easily embarassed for someone who had been at the mercy of The Homecoming for over a year.

"Shut the fuck up, Dani!" She threw back, her doll-like features changing in the blink of an eye to something more akin to the devils pet Lilly had described her as.

Kacey piped up then unable to stay out of proceedings, twirling her loose pigtails innocently. "You should have gone with sitting ducks, Em. Just you know, rolls off the tongue better..."

"Yeah? Fuck you too, Kacey! It won't matter whether it's sitting ducks or Tom Turkey when they find us! Then we'll just be dead doornails! That sit better with you?" Emryn hissed with venom, gripping the chain between them like she wanted to wrap it around each of their necks.

"Dodos..." Kacey breathed, further prodding her and forcing Clementine to step in to the brewing chaos before one of them ended up on the end of an Emryn triangle choke hold special.

"Guys, please!?" Clementine implored, glaring at the offenders. "Look, I appreciate how much hell you've all been through-" She put particular emphasis to the 'all' as Emryn seemed to feel more hard done to than the others. "It's just going to take a little longer than any of us wanted." She tried again pragmatically.

Emryn puffed out her cheeks. Using the renewed silence she appeared to recalibrate her approach to being given news she didn't like. Finally she spoke again in a marginally less antagonistic tone. "Well for me, it's taking too long. So - we'll be coming with you tomorrow."

Clementine objected, though she really didn't want to continue on with the battle of wills she was currently locked into. "What about your shoulder?" She asked pointedly as a newly frightened Lacey-Mae looked on at Emryn's initial assertion. It was a weak argument and Emryn batted it away easily.

"Hell, I can move better with my dodgy shoulder than you can on your mangy leg." She accused, leaving Clem to fumble for a more convincing argument, in the end having to use what she considered her best, to guilt Emryn into retreating by using the other girls.

As despite the bluster that she would be happy leaving them in her past once the chains were taken away, Clem knew Emryn cared more for them than she was willing to let on. After all they'd suffered their darkest days at the hands of The Homecoming as one, it had to count for something. Right?

"And what about the girls? You can't make that decision for them. They've made it clear that-" She started.

"Um, actually Clem- we kinda talked about that while you were out... I know we said we were happy to hang back but that _was_ days ago" Danika interrupted sheepishly, leaving Clementine blindsided by the revelation. Wrong.

Kacey further alienated the cause as she failed to give what she thought was a subtle glance over to a now self satisfied Emryn before speaking up "Yeah, we're starting to get a little stir crazy"

Bullshit Clementine thought. The Greenbriers bunker was boundless and there was no shortage of coversation to be had. Even if they were sick of each other, Louis alone would happily socialize them to death. It wasn't even as if she was insisting on confining them below deck, only to the grounds.

No, Emryn had simply managed to get there first, to guilt trip the girls into accompanying her before Clem could use them to do the same to Emryn. "Is this something you all want?" She asked in response, paying particular attention to Lacey-Mae, the youngest and easiest to manipulate.

She was slow to commit to an answer and when she did so it was lacking the fervishness with which Kacey and Danika had given theirs. Better liars.

"It's like she said, we talked about it while you were out." Emryn reiterated, victory creeping across her face. Kacey went on to soften the blow.

"We're so thankful for everything you've done for us so far, and I think we're mostly all happy to stay here with your group... we just, we're done being saved? We want to save ourselves for once." Clementine found a surprising truth in her wild eyes as she said this, and despite Emryns smug disposition warranting being brought back down to earth, she found herself relenting.

Though she still wasn't content with Lacey-Mae's agitated state, the one eye she could see looking now any place but where the conflict was. "Are you okay with this?" Clementine asked of her.

"I, just don't want to be a burden" She squeaked, confidence in her abilities nowhere to be found. Emryn whipped her head round in the girls direction.

"You'll be fine, Lace! Got two working arms and legs don't you? Well you're already in better shape than this one!" She said, jamming a thumb in Clem's direction. "And we'll protect you if it gets tricky, because I don't know about the other two but I don't fancy being chained to a corpse. This ones bad enough!" She changed the direction of the same thumb to sit before Kacey; who promptly stuck out her tongue in mock offense.

Clementine could have fallen asleep where she stood given half a chance, so she bit the bullet in a thoroughly uncommited manner. "Let's sleep on it, okay?" She said knowing how well that had worked out for her last time with James' desparture.

"There's nothing to sleep on. We'll see you bright and early!" Emryn needled again as Clementine placed her face in her hand. Not likely she thought. They would be lucky to see her before mid afternoon based on current energy levels.

"Yeah, whatever" she answered, dragging herself back down the halls of the bunker again within the next minute with an unpalletable feeling that tomorrow could well be one to forget. Their vigilance would certainly have to be dialled up several notches searching beyond the creek with the four in toe.

Her tiredness had gotten to the point that slight disorientation had taken hold, leaving her feeling like she'd almost floated through the doorway of her and Violets room. 

Her face hit the crowd of plumped up pillows taken from the other beds that had once been in their room (Both Clementine and Violet had already rearranged it to their liking, taking apart the other bunks and leaving the pieces in a vacant block).

She had spread herself out on the double mattress (two pushed together singles) and just about pulled her hair free from the pigtails they'd been placed in that morning when she heard the door lock click from her.

"That you Vi?" She asked, the pillows muffling her words to a degree that she was unsure if they would be heard.

"Mhmm." Violet replied in confirmation. Clementine could sense her hovering where her voice had emanated from. She spoke again. "Turn around." It came as an order, though her tone was off-kilter, almost unsure of itself.

Clementine did as she was told, rolling over onto her back, using more effort than such a task should take. As she did so she noted that the only light source in the room came from two freshly lit candles burning on a set of drawers either side of the mattress. She drew her sleepy eyes across the walls as the flames forced the shadows to dance upon them until she finally laid eyes on Violet.

The heat in her face rose higher than if she'd stuck the candle wax directly against her cheeks; suddenly wide awake and struggling to find adequate words for what was waiting in front of her.

Her lover stood in _the_ skimpiest babydoll outfit, almost completely sheer if only for the black thread bordering the rest of the barely there outfit. Clementine looked over the material clinging tightly to Violets breasts and stomach, her gaze pulled further down until it came to a stop where the outfit ceased - at the upper most part of her thighs.

She stood with her legs tight together, one of them slightly in front of the other to hide what little modesty she had left. She smiled bashfully upon getting the reaction she was looking for, a shocked and yet completely aroused Clementine.

"Happy fourteen days without Coffee." Violet said finally.


	2. Chain Of Events - Part Two: First Time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Considering how the last chapter ended, things get a little steamy below so be warned :P.
> 
> It was my first time writing this kind of scene, and it challenged me heaps. In how to properly do it justice, to be descriptive and yet not devolve things into smuttiness. To know where to draw the line. 
> 
> Its a big moment all round and I know it has come very early in the story (especially to those who haven't read my previous installment) but I plan for there to be a reason for this down the road thematically. Whether it'll pay off I don't know. This chapter doesn't exactly advance the story, but i feel it gives Clem and Violet some much needed development.
> 
> And as always I hope you enjoy it.

[](http://i.imgur.com/U73JBZo)

*

Clementine stayed rooted to the mattress on which she had fallen; the gravity of the situation taking shape as Violets bared figure continued to tantalize her field of vision.

She watched as she pushed herself off the locked door with the curve of her ass; Clementine sensing a devoted effort in her seduction to appear as sure of herself as her words suggested.

"I told you my prize was going to be a little more R-rated..." She recalled in her smoky tone, ensuring in the process that Clementines heart would begin to thump hard against her chest.

She had been half asleep only seconds before, and yet now her gaze complied completely with the desire of Violets hips to be watched as they rose and fell hypnotically toward her. Clementine knew she would soon be a livewire on the end of Violets touch.

Her cheeks burned white hot as she instinctively tried to regain control of the lustful desires she was feeling at seeing Violet in a way she'd only ever been able to picture in her head before now.

Control of the effect those thoughts were having on the intimate parts of her body. But she found her efforts were useless; and her cheeks burned hotter still. There were very few times in this world that Clementine had or would ever find herself out of her element when next to Violet, but she was well on her way to experiencing one of those times.

Thankfully Violet herself seemed to understand this rare dynamic at play between them, having previously given her ex Minnie the pleasure of her virginity before the two current lovers knew that either existed.

Checking her step on bare feet, she came to a stop at the bottom of their makeshift bed; momentarily fiddling with the ribbon holding together her outfit it reminded Clementine that she was not the only one feeling the apprehension of being out of her comfort zone.

She sat up in the low light, an attempt to channel Violets apparent loss of confidence in order to bring her back from the doubt that she would ever look anything other than breathtaking in Clementines eyes.

She chased her attention, a subtle but inviting movement doing enough to succeed as her seducer locked back onto her loving objective. 

Violet smiled through her blushes and lowered herself slowly to her knees, her inner thighs separating just enough to reveal a small strip of light blonde hair rising from the tip of her clit. 

She came to rest between Clementines legs, sitting her backside down onto the heels of her feet, her breasts reacting slightly to the bump of the touch down. 

Violet then placed her hands on the floor directly in front of her body, drawing Clementine to notice the plethora of blood red petals surrounding every inch of their bed, soon to frame the both of them in consummation.

The latter found herself failing to surpress a smile again in Violets presence. She didn't even have a particular affinity for flowers, but tonight, she would adore what they represented. Once Violet was satisfied with the reaction she lifted her hand to trace a finger slowly up her body, revelling again now in her ability to conduct her partner into a trance-like state as she did so.

Clem followed as it snaked up her lovers taut stomach and over an impossibly erect nipple aching for her lips, until it came forth from Violets body. But only to beckon her to come closer.

And Clementine did so without hesitation, happy at her mercy.

She could almost see the electrical charge sparking fiercely as the space between them closed. Yet what she felt, was sensitivity; so tender was Violet in approach to ease Clementine into a moment few were lucky enough to experience in the hellish world they had to call home.

It was clear that despite the fun Violet was having, she knew the importance of this for Clementine. For the both of them as she would have the fortune of being the girl to guide her love through her first brush with ecstasy.

She spoke again after what felt like an eternity in a singular instant.

"I can take the lead... but this is _our_ moment, okay? You take what you want because I will give you my all.... if you _do_ want me?" She added, understanding that the decision would ultimately always be Clementines.

The latter nodded, with her head spinning and a throbbing taking hold between her thighs. The friction of her jeans only serving to further intensify the already heightened sensitivity down there.

"I do" she replied, words of her own finally managing their way past her lips, so sure was Clementine that she wanted to experience this milestone with no other.

The two were primed so close now that Clementine could feel Violets baited breath skimming her skin as she reached to push a stray lock of hair back behind Clementines ear. "I hope this is enough... the room I mean. I tried to make it perfect but, I didn't have much to work with." She added apologetically, the doubt rearing its head again. Clementine found herself shaking hers automatically though.

The room didn't need to be perfect - because Violet always would be. 

"I love it." She started truthfully. "We just need a little mood music."

Violet smiled. "This-" she pointed to the babydoll outfit and everything it failed to obscure. "- is for your eyes only. I'm not going to make you cum while Louis stands there crooning in the corner"

Clementine cringed thinking of the scenario. Luckily Violet bit her lip, permanently erasing Louis from the image as quick as he had entered.

"Well, I was holding this back for something special, but I think this is going to be pretty special." Clementine replied before turning onto her front to reach under the part of the mattress she lay her head upon each night.

She closed her hand on the object and returned to the spot where Violet had stayed on her knees, a great pain on her face after having successfully refrained from pinning her prone girlfriend on her front so she could nibble on her neck.

Clementine dropped the object into the same palm that Violet had used to caress over her stiff nipple. And her eyes lit up. "Where did you find this!?" Violet asked incredulously, examining the minature player with glee.

"I found it the first day we got here. In one of the bedside tables. I wanted to give it to you the second I found it but for whatever reason it doesn't have much juice left... so I kept it for when you could really use it..." Clementine explained, happy that she could bring another touch to what she already knew to be an imminently idyllic experience.

"God, I love you." Violet blurted out, pushing the headphone jack into the waiting hole and turning it on.

"Show me how much." Clementine ordered, getting up to mirror Violets pose on her knees and taking charge for the first time. It was short lived however because Violets opal green eyes pierced her as the words left her mouth. 

The blonde moved to join her on the bed, still kneeling, but now erecting her height fully so she could again look down upon Clementines stunted frame.

"Pull the ribbon and I'll pop your cherry?" Violet whispered back from above. The tightening between Clementines legs reached an intensity she was unable to deny at this and she reached out, holding the material between her fingers.

There was a split second between the pulling of the ribbon and the pressing of a button as Violets outfit slipped down her back and over her ass to the floor while the first chords of a driving bass started to pulsate quietly from the speakers as the player hit the bed.

Clementine found both having an immediate and heady effect on her senses as she allowed Violet to begin undressing her gently between passionate kisses from lithe lips. She kissed back, coming apart only to lose more clothing.

She felt her hair tickle her neck as it fell back down upon Violet lifting her t-shirt over her head to leave her in a bra that had seen better days. Not that it mattered when Violet reached around to unclasp it, her bust against Clementines face as she did so, pulling back then to release hers, only slightly noticeably smaller.

They kissed some more while Violet fondled them, running her thumb back and forth over a stiffening nipple and beginning to wander up her inner thigh with the other. 

Clementine wanted to explore back in every way she desired since their first kiss on the clocktower. She had been so patient waiting for this moment, and yet her hands stayed rooted against Violets waist, worried that she could possibly make the wrong move when her lover was making all the right ones.

"Get out of your head, Clem" Violet smiled in another instant of her apparent new found ability to read her mind. "Do what you want to. I'm yours." Though it was easy for her to say this when she'd just popped the button open on her jeans and was in the process of sliding her hand down inside her underwear. The act only rendered Clementine completely catatonic. 

She found herself having to remember to breathe, to actively keep her mind from spacing out to the pleasure she felt as Violets fingers started to work parts of her that had never before been touched by another.

Clementine allowed her lips to part slightly as they continued to taste each other, inviting Violets tongue inside so her own could meet it. The act drew a moan of appreciation from her partner.

"That's more like it" Violet breathed encouragingly, cupping the back of Clementines neck and continuing to work with what little room she had inside her increasingly sticky underwear. 

The rhythm pounded on, machine-like drums kicking in, Violet subconciously starting to rub with her fingers in tandem to the beat, making Clementine more involuntarily vocal in response.

She soon found herself laying flat on her back after a little push from the fingers that seconds ago had been inside her, jeans being pulled to her ankles and then flung halfway across the room.

Violet climbed on top and continued to touch her playfully. The words between them were few, but Clementine had found no discomfort in that, especially when they came as naked as the two lovers now found themselves.

"You are so beautiful." Violet said in her straddling state, having looked over every inch of Clementines mocha complexion, dichtomic next to her own peached skin tone.

"Well you're definitely making me feel that way." Clementine blushed, her initial apprehension had almost completely given way now in Violets embrace. She was out of her own head.

"It's more than what I see, Clem. Part of your beauty in my eyes comes from how fucking amazing you make me feel just being yours. Might be corny or whatever but I don't care. I - I just hope I give that back to you."

Clementine raised her hand to grab hold of Violets, clasping it tightly and staring longingly into her candle-lit features. 

"You have nothing to worry over, Vi. Not while things are this way. I'm never going away from this. From you."

Strained vocals had started to power alongside the infectiously kinetic melody of the unknown song causing Violet to reach for the player before Clementine halted her attempt.

"Leave it" she asked, pushing it out of reach.

"Really?" Violet responded, raising a questioning eyebrow.

"Yeah. I kinda like it." And she did. Despite the lyrics being completely at odds with the passionate scene it scored, the instrumental continued to defy its lead singers melancholy.

_Won't you please let me go_  
_These words lie inside, they hurt me so_  
_And i'm not the kind who likes to tell you_ _Just what I want to do_

He sang out as the driving bass and drums allowed themselves to meld with a soaring synth between verses. Much like the moment she and Violet were in, she knew this song would stick in her memory bank for an age. And she was more than in love with that thought.

Violet obeyed, soon resuming contact. Their lips. Her lips on Clementines neck. Over her chest and down her stomach. Teeth on her sharp hips. Clementine writhed beneath her, tight hold on her hands all the while.

She tilted her head to watch Violet, her blonde bangs flanking her defined jaw as it skimmed over her entrance on her way to nipping at her thighs, spiking an imminent rapture in every pleasure centre Clementine had.

_And I'm not the kind that likes to tell you_  
_Just what you want me to_  
_You're not the kind that likes to tell me_  
_About the birds and the bees_

The English man crooned on his way to another ever spirited chorus, his words further proving he knew nothing of what he was soundtracking. Violet was teaching Clementine real good.

She squirmed as Violet hovered at her mound, the breath on her trimmed pubic hair she found herself unable to keep from bucking her hips up wildly for Violet to bury her tongue between them.

And she did so; with Clementine tightening her grip around Violets wrists suddenly, the muscles in her stomach contracting at the warm, sensual stroke. Violet moaned as she clamped her mouth on Clementines opening, vibrating her to near convulsion. 

In fact the feeling building was so strong after merely a few minutes (or was it seconds? She couldn't tell) of constant mouth play that Clementine involuntarily wrapped her legs around Violets head, pulling her deeper if that were at all possible. 

A jagged edged riff shot in and out as the song started to come to a crescendo, the synths back to swooping over the melody. Clementine could feel herself coming toward a climax of her own, Violets mouth like a fuse burning its way along, about to go off throughout her slight frame.

Violet herself could surely feel it too as she propped her ass up in the air so she could better angle her tongue on Clem's glistening clit. The latter letting go of Violets hands at this juncture to run her hands over the sweat forming on her skin, the heat from the candles serving to exacerbate the persperation.

She pushed the hair sticking to her forehead from her face and nearly bit down on a finger when Violet hit a pleasure point she hadn't flicked her tongue over yet.

Still locked between Clementines legs Violet reached back up her slight body and began to knead her perky breasts in her palms. This added action sending Clementine once again into contractions, only this time they didn't subside for a second. She bucked again.

_I've lost you, I've lost you_  
_I've lost you, I've lost you_  
_I've lost you_

Lies. All lies Clementine managed to think momentarily before slipping back to concentrate on nothing but the euphoria about to consume her. She had been found. She had found ecstacy, on her back. And she wanted to stay there always.

"F-Fuck" She near squealed as Violet decided it was time for Clementine to see the fireworks in her eyes. She moved her mouth from left to right rapidly inside Clementines leg-lock, causing eyes and thighs to tighten in unison.

She erupted.

Gushing and shaking as Violet lapped up her love. Every muscle inside her providing pleasure she'd never knew she could experience. Thrusting her lower half aggressively into Violets waiting lips, she sucked harder still.

Then after a minute or so in pure orgasm, she found herself finally able to relax her whole body. Drained completely. Her chest rising and falling deeply as the lungs inside worked overtime.

The ceiling span as she lay spread eagled on the mattress. Violet took to resting white hot cheeks on her stomach. Heavily intaking air herself for a few moments before dragging herself up to drape her naked state over Clementine.

"Good?" She asked sarcastically while nuzzling her, lips shining with Clementines sex. She was quiet for a few seconds while trying to adequately describe Violets skills. But there were non. She had to settle.

 _"Fucking glorious."_ She answered, thinking of her new found empathy for Luke and Jane and their sexcapades even in the face of their responsibility. If it was this electric for them, she considered herself enlightened to their dilemma.

Clementine puffed air up her face in an attempt to cool it down, but she found it a wasted action as Violet responded again wickedly.

"Yeah? Good. Because that makes it my turn." She jumped up then to stand directly over her spent partner, her considerable bust extending from above her firm tummy; the strip of light blonde pubic hair back in view and drawing close until Violet succeeded in mounting Clementines face to get some enlightenment of her own.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> By the way, I am aiming to post every Sunday. Now as this chapter proves, it may come early. On hopefully rare occasions, it'll come a bit later. Just a heads up :)


	3. Chain Of Events - Part Three: Problem (With) Child.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is pretty contained, lots of dialogue. The next one will be a bumper chapter hopefully. But either way I hope this chapter is interesting to read, I mean, we followed Telltales TWD for the characters and their development right? :)

*

[](http://i.imgur.com/E8cKxKX)

There was no telling for sure what time she'd awoken in Violets arms. 

The bunker had been built completely devoid of any natural light source and the timed generator had ceased functioning a week or so prior to their arrival, at least according to Nate.

There were some tell-tale signs though, like the fact that Clementine had always found herself rising before anybody else without fail since AJ had come into her life. When she hadn't been up half the night keeping watch anyway.

She found the notion cemented over again as she pulled herself past the blocks containing still sleeping bodies on her way to the cafeteria.

It was the strangest feeling to be living out of cupboards and eating regularly from bowls again when she had survived for so long by the bag on her back.

Though without gas or working electricity most of their food had been rendered inedible indefinitely, as starting fires in the bunker seemed a little too much like tempting fate to Clementine.

She pulled two bowls from the cupboard anyway, positioning a chair beneath her so she would be tall enough to do so as Nate insisted on putting them on the top most shelf.

It was an inconvenience but if that was the extent of his antagonistic deeds, Clementine would gladly continue to suffer in silence.

She had barely touched terra-firma again when she heard the tail-end of a yawn from behind her. AJ entered, rubbing at the sleep in his eyes, his afro looking unkempt from his stint in bed.

"Morning, Goofball" Clementine said, pulling a chair out from under one of the many long lines of tables in the room.

"Morning, Clem." He replied groggily, taking up her offer and clambering onto it; his elbows propped on the tables edge he yawned again.

"I was just about to come wake you. What do you want for breakfast?" She asked, thankful for the fact she hadn't needed to. AJ had proven himself to be quite the heavy sleeper. Clementine put todays early rise down to his similarly early fall the previous evening.

"What do we got?" He replied, lazily.

"Have" Clem corrected. "And- uh" She looked over their consumables, quickly realising that she would have been stumped even choosing on his behalf.

"Well, there's not a lot. Nothing hot without the stove..." She went on lamenting the loss of it after their showdown on the bridge. "How about some Oatmeal? Just until we can fix the generator?" Clementine suggested knowing it was hardly a desirable start to the day. 

AJ pulled his face a little before replying. "Cold Oatmeal? Anymore Twinkies?" He asked instead hopefully. Clementine laughed and ruffled his springy hair.

"Sorry, Kiddo. You and Tenn finished them off together." The words had left her mouth before she'd been able to prevent herself, the forlorn look AJ had perpetually worn since his death returning near instantaneously.

Clementine cursed herself silently. This wasn't the way she'd planned to address his behaviour yesterday. She certainly hadn't wanted to lead with Tenn's name. She passed over the Oatmeal to instead grab a few bars if Pemmican, setting them down on the table and rounding it to sit opposite her boy.

Clem nudged a bar in his direction. Thankfully AJ picked it up though the wounded demeanor remained. She opened a bar of her own and allowed silence to continue as they ate.

She spent the time wishing she knew the right thing to say to him. Loss had shadowed most of her life, and yet it had never come with quite the same dynamic that AJ had found with Tenn. Sure, she'd lost people similar in age - Sarah, Gabe, even Duck... but she had to admit, she'd never looked up to them.

But Tenn seemed to have struck a chord with AJ. His creativity and maturity at a young age. Even his outlook on life after death, despite AJ not identifying with it personally. 

Clementine had given him the survival skills, the protection, but she had to admit that his friendship with Tenn had been doing more to mature AJ in ways she felt she'd so far failed to. And the severed connection that had come with his death was something she could not protect AJ from. No matter how many times it would happen.

Clementine waited, watching AJ as he picked up another bar, his mind where she'd inadvertently sent it. She tried to bring him back from that place once he had taken a bite. "So, you were asleep when I got home last night, kiddo..." she started. However AJ initially offered nothing in reply. "You're usually up till I put you to bed..." she prodded. 

"I was tired." He shrugged then through a mouthful of Pemmican, refusing to meet her eye and looking past her to nothing in particular instead.

"But you didn't get up until midday..." She led, not expecting the passive aggressive response she got.

"You don't know what time I got up because you weren't here." AJ accused, furrowing his brow.

"I was out trying to keep my promise to someone AJ. And I do know what time you got up because I have people keep an eye on you when I'm not around. So, yes, I do know. Just like I know you're back to kicking walls through again... what gives?" Clementine fired back, irked somewhat that another close to her had questioned her search.

"If you have people watching me then you already know!" AJ replied angrily at the inquest being carried out. Clem sighed, taking a second to check her tone when addressing him.

"Because of Minnie." She said, rather than asked, a sympathy attached. She noted a lowering in AJ's anger too as he replied, realising she was on his side, at least for the moment.

"She won't let me go see Tenn. Everyone else can go talk to him but she gets all mean when I want to. It's not fair!" He complained. It wasn't. 

But until Clementine understood why Minerva was being so cold towards him, there wasn't much she could do to fix the problem. "I'll talk to her Okay? But we have to talk first. I thought we'd gotten past you kicking things when you get angry?"

"Well, I tried to stop and think and then breathe... but I got stuck thinking and then I just got more angry. But at myself." AJ bemoaned, laying his half eaten bar back down on the table.

"At yourself?" Clementine asked confused at such a statement.

"Yeah. But I didn't wanna beat myself up. So I kicked the wall instead." He replied, a slight shake in his voice returning as quickly as it had disappeared.

"Why would you be mad at yourself??" Clementine asked peturbed at the sudden revelation. "Minnie's the one not letting you go see him."

"I know! But- but maybe she's right not to." AJ said, his tone tinged with self loathing. Clementine almost shook her head in trying to understand whether she'd heard correctly.

"Why would you say something like that AJ? She asked, trying to find the answer in his welling eyes. However when he finally opened his mouth, Clementine realised she never would have.

"Because I killed him!" The words fired from his mouth like they'd been triggered from the chamber of a gun, stunning Clem momentarily before she scrambled to cover his crisis of concience.

"Woah! Woah! Kiddo, you can't talk like that. And keep your voice down." She said, checking over her shoulder to make sure nobody had awoken and wandered within ear-shot. 

"I can't help it!" He half-shouted, ignoring Clementines plea as more repressed feelings broke free, extending the blast radius in the process.

"You said to always keep the last bullet for myself, but then when I do, you tell me that sometimes I shouldn't! It's confusing! Tenns dead because I didn't shoot Ryan. It's my fault." AJ finished, his face becoming contorted with the outburst.

Clementine sat frozen. And hurt. She knew that he was just frustrated, and lashing out, but he had never laid so much blame at her door before. She feared her reply, not wanting to say the wrong thing in case it further raised his temper, not when he was saying the things he was; Minnie finding out just didn't bare thinking about.

"Hey! No. You do not put that on yourself AJ. Ryan made the choice she did and she paid for it with her own life. Tenn is not your fault." She hissed, almost at a whisper.

She reached out to touch AJ's hand in attempt to calm him, but he pulled away, balling his fists and scrunching up his face in frustration "You said I would know when someone was worth saving. And Tenn was. But I didn't-"

"AJ, please! You shouldn't even have to make decisions like that." Clementine cut across, still smarting at how AJ was showing up her shortcomings. Even moreso that he felt he deserved the guilt gnawing away at him because of Ryans actions.

"Well I do. And I always get them wrong! People got mad when I killed Marlon. I get called a murderer. But then I don't shoot Ryan... and I still feel bad. Like a murderer." He breathed hard through his nostrils. His eyes darting about as more dark thoughts taunted him.

Clementine struggled to accept what she was hearing. She put so much pressure on herself every day to make sure she was teaching AJ right, but to know that she was failing to such an extent that he was being so resentful toward not only her but himself too, was crushing.

"AJ..." she said, not quite sure where she was headed. "I had no idea you were feeling like this." She watched his lip tremble and a tear track down his cheek as his anger morphed into pure helplessness.

"I don't want to. I just want to see Tenn. I want- to say sorry." He pleaded, bumping one of his small fists against the table between them.

Clem fought the urge to repeat herself. The urge to tell him that he didn't need to apologise. That doing so essentially admitted wrong doing, something she wasn't comfortable with him believing he'd done by not pulling a trigger.

And yet feeling the pain radiating from his troubled mind, she knew she had to let him. The tougher part would undoubtedly be talking down Minnie. 

Clementine couldn't exactly lead with the fact AJ hadn't fired his gun when it would have saved her brothers life. She was already at odds with him for reasons yet unknown. 

"If that will make you feel better, then I'll make sure Minnie lets you see him. Okay?" She offered finally, still working on how exactly she would achieve the feat. Clementine couldn't remember ever winning a battle of wills against Minnie that didn't first devolve into a physical altercation.

She tried to smile encouragingly, hoping her proposal would finally appease AJ. But as he hopped down from his seat, he remained morose.

"Okay." He said, beginning to slouch back out of the room. Clementine caught his arm on the way past and pulled him into a tight hug she could tell he suffered through.

He squirmed his way out of it, leaving Clementine no doubt that she'd have to do much more to alleviate the tension between them. 

She wrestled with allowing him to visit the farmhouse. It would be another body to keep tabs on, the most important - but he'd been couped up with his thoughts for almost a week. He could do with better company.

"AJ. Do you feel like helping me today? I think we might need you." Clementine asked, spinning around to face him as he paused in the doorway. 

"You... want me to come with you?" He asked tentatively. Clementine replied, surprised he felt the need to confirm such a thing. She hadn't left him to his own devices too much, had she?

"I always want you with me, AJ. But at the same time I want to protect you, and sometimes that means leaving you behind. You can't hold that against me." She half-joked, their earlier interaction showing that he could well do.

"When are we going?" He asked, the slightest amount of levity in his mood now. Clementine could only hope it remained.

"You go get ready and I'll come get you when we're leaving, alright?" She assured him. He nodded and left Clementine alone with _her_ thoughts now.

She lowered her upper body down until she found herself lying flat on her back across a number of chairs. She exhaled deeply, already thoroughly exhausted to human interaction, worse surely yet to come.

*

Though she had to admit she hadn't been expecting it quite so soon, as she felt the presence of another enter the vicinity mere minutes later. Either that or she'd been spaced out with her thoughts longer than realised.

Clementine stayed still in her deceptively comfortable spot, hoping whoever it was would leave non the wiser to her presence. However the bodiless voice of Nate found her wanting.

"Rough night?" He asked, no discernible sympathy behind the question. She didn't budge, watching through the table legs as a pair of loose fitted camo pants moved toward the cupboards.

"Perfect night, actually. Rough morning." Clementine replied, knowing how silly that sounded after only experiencing half an hour of it.

She listened to the sound of Nate's first point of call - putting the unused bowls back up and out of her reach. "You talkin' about that little hellion of yours?" He asked, now slightly mischievously.

A nervousness swept through Clementine quickly. "Hellion?" She repeated, peturbed that he would blindly hone in on AJ. Nate allowed her question to hang there longer than necessary.

If there was one thing Clementine had already learned about the guy, it was that he enjoyed other peoples discomfort. He spoke finally.

"Don't worry, I only heard you both on my way to the pisser. I can't imagine you were arguing about anything I would want in on." Nate said, enjoying the power to raise and lower his victims heart-rate. "But anyway, back to this perfect night... you get in some scissor time with your lady?"

Clementine declined to answer, remaining prickled; she wouldn't allow him to sully the memory. In fact she had taken to contemplating exiting back into Violets sleepy embrace when a dull thud from above made her jump back to a sitting position.

Looking around she was met by the sole of one of Nates wingwalkers. They were in too good a shape to have been his for very long. He tied the laces with a smirk on his face, his hat, not unlike Clementines casting a shadow down to the bridge of his nose.

She noted a relatively empty looking back pack hanging off one of his ageing shoulders, it smelling like a dead skunk. He was ready to move.

"Are you planning on coming with us today?" Clementine asked cautiously, hoping otherwise. Nates smile grew wider as he swapped one boot for the other on the table.

"Well I thought you'd never ask!" He said mockingly, faux excitement. Clem felt her stomach drop, she knew she'd already have enough on her plate with Emryn and co. Not to mention AJ. Nate soon continued however.

"But, nah. I've got a prior engagement." He said vaguely. Clementine raised an eyebrow, though she was unsure she even really wanted to be privy to what that meant. "If you have to know, I've got some meds in here-" he patted his backpack. "And I'm going to drop them off with some people I know."

Clementine was correct in her assertion, she didn't want to know, but now that she did, she had questions spilling out of her head. "People you know!? What people?"

"You don't listen well do you now? The people I'm dropping the meds off with. Like I just said."

"Did you not think to tell us you were dealing with others _before!?"_

Nate remained as calm as ever in his reply, withdrawing his boot from the table to stand back up. "Well it was hardly on my to do list. I mean I'm loving the company but my business is still my business, kid."

"If you missed the company so much how come these people don't live here with you?" Clementine probed.

"Well, because then I couldn't trade with them, I'd have to give this shit away for free..." Nate replied again, like the answer should have been obvious. He perched himself on the edge of the table, waiting for the next question that came to her mind.

"What are you trading for?" Clementine asked still somewhat incredulous at Nates lack of concern. Some would say she was being unecessarily cautious, but Clementine could count on one hand the number of groups she'd met that hadn't wanted her dead one way or another.

"The basics, not that it matters anymore. This here is the last batch I've got, which means my trading days will be over for the time being. So you can go ahead and calm your bee stings, kid." Nate enlightened her.

"And they're going to be okay with that?" Clementine asked, knowing how such deals could go sour thanks to Ben-Paul and the Save Lots bandits way back at the Travelier Hotel.

"They'll have to be." Nate said, almost menacingly, matching the craziness in his eyes for the first time. Clementine was sure she could rattle free even more questions to her suddenly shadowy housemate, but they escaped her for the time being.

"They're a ways out so I'm not going to be back until nightfall. You, uh, want me to double back around and pick you up?" He offered, looking pointedly at her limpy leg. He stood back up in waiting to signal that his departure was imminent.

'You and what vehicle' Clementine thought scathingly. She declined, hoping and expecting in equal measure that they wouldn't be out nearly that long. "No thanks, we'll be fine."

"Suit yourself, Turpentine." He needled her again. Clementine didn't bother correcting his purposefully erroneous attempt on her name. His final words echoed off the walls outside as he left the room to start his travels.

"Don't go changing the locks while I'm out! I made a skeleton key outta the last guy who did that to me."


	4. Chain Of Events - Part Four: Rider On The Storm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This Chapter has been a looong time coming (well, only 9 days, but since I kinda promised every Sunday in the comments, its late) and I sincerely apologise. My life at home has hit a bit of stress and delayed this chapter as I just didn't have the go to get it done.
> 
> But here it is. And hopefully expect the next chapter a little sooner next time. Thank you to those that stick out the wait for chapters, I don't know how you all do it but i'm grateful to no end.
> 
> Get readin!

[](http://i.imgur.com/L2vSOc6)

*

Contrary to Emryns threat of 'bright and early' the previous night, it would be anything but before she and the other girls marched up the concrete steps to meet Clementine, AJ and Violet at the bunkers entrance.

Emryn in particular wore an intensely vexed look to the world; glaring in Lacey Mae's direction when Violet made a passing comment about their lacking punctuality.

They said their goodbyes to Louis, who once again played gatekeeper, managing only to shut them all out with their help, lending their collective weight from the other side of the door, not that their slight frames amounted to much.

Clementine made a mental note to check in with him upon their return, whether they were successful in their quest or not. But especially if not - she'd been sorely missing his infectious positivity.

They crossed the unruly green in silence, Clementine certain the mood would be lighter if not for the pixie haired teenager stomping her way forward, pulling Kacey and the others along like cattle. 

Emryn was so tightly wound that Clementine wondered whether cutting her free would even do anything to alleviate her foul attitude. Though she'd made it clear ad nauseam that she wouldn't be around long enough for Clementine to witness any such change.

It was not something she would lose any sleep over. However upon rounding the rear side of the mammoth and weathered walls of the Greenbrier, Clementine found a sight that she _would_ lose sleep over if it continued unresolved for much longer.

The lonely figures of Minnie and Sophie sat in the near distance before a lopsided cross that had been driven into a heap of disturbed dirt; bordered with medium sized marble rocks comandeered from elsewhere around the resort.

Tennessee's name had likely been etched into the pine by the twins, who had largely kept themselves isolated from the rest of the group by all accounts. 

Clementine understood the need to grieve alone. That there was no time scale in which one should be expected to come to terms with the death of a loved one. But at the same time she felt the self-imposed seclusion was starting to fester into misdirected negativity, especially on the part of Minnie, who could be a volatile mood on even her best days.

She caught AJ looking over at the grave with a mixture of frustration and melancholy that instantly infected her disposition too - forcing her to struggle against the urge to confront Minnie there and then over her treatment of him.

It left her with an admittedly warped sense of longing for the times she only had to overcome the pragmatic yet unemotionally charged disputes that came with running alongside Lilly.

A light squeeze on Clementines hand spun her free from the growing tangle of thoughts inside her head. "Well that's different" Violet said, using their joined arms to point toward the heavens.

They had taken on an ominous emerald hue for as far as the eye could see. The wall of clouds so thick and heavy in front of the sun they could have tricked one into believing it was late in the evening. It was certainly not something Clementine had noted before, neither in West Virginia nor her home state of Georgia.

"What do you think it means?" Violet asked with wonder as they left The Greenbrier in their wake. Clementine shrugged.

"I'd have said it means we're all screwed, but I think that's been going on for a good ten years now." She replied with a grimace.

"Or maybe it just means we're close to meeting the wizard..." Violet offered, drawing confusion from Clementine. The former smiled endearingly, granting an explanation. "It's a movie. I watched a lot of TV as a kid remember."

Clementine did remember. How she'd told of watching it even through her grandmother sticking a sawn off in her own mouth. "Movies about green skies and wizards?" She questioned with mocking judgement.

"Well, the clouds weren't green, but the city where the Wizard lived was." Violet corrected herself. "Anyway that's not even the most wacko part. It had like, evil flying monkeys too. Talking Lions and Robots and Scarecrows."

"Flying Monkeys, huh?"

" _Evil_ Flying Monkeys" Violet corrected, snap fastening the top of her jacket to help brace against the wind, it's moan steadily growing as they navigated their way off the perimiter of the resorts sprawling grounds. 

They would walk for a good ten minutes more in relative quiet before Violet decided to pick up where she'd left off "Anyway, they go to this wizard because they hear he grants wishes and stuff."

"What did the wizard give them?" AJ piped up from a few steps ahead.

"Oh, well it turns out that the Wizard was a fraud and gave them jack. But eventually they realised that what they wanted was inside them all along. Real wholesome stuff." Violet answered.

"I bet" Clem responded, trying and failing to remember much of anything she had watched before the end of world forced her to take refuge up in her treehouse. She did have the vaguest memory of scaring herself silly on the stairs one night though, having snook down after Sandra had put her to bed.

But she could no longer picture what she had seen on the TV screen with any kind of certainty, thinking perhaps it had been lost in her attempt to bleach her mind free of the sight of Sandra and her boyfriend sucking face on the couch.

A shrill whistle next to her ear disturbed her wayward thinking, noticing Violet had made the sound to get the attention of Emryn, who had pulled the girls in the wrong direction at the top of the street they'd been travelling along.

Her ear-length onyx hair whipped round, the others following her lead in unison. Clementine didn't bother to shout, instead using her hand to signal lazily that they should be heading in the opposite direction.

There had been little sign of any walkers whatsoever in their prior searches, but Clementine knew too well their uncanny ability to just appear in ones blindside, especially when voices were being needlessly raised.

Unfortunately the odds of this becoming reality if they left the farmhouse empty handed were high enough for Clementine to dread the possibility every step of the way.

***

Clementine squelched along awkwardly in her sodden boots, having crossed at the skinniest part of the creek before throwing them back selflessly for both Violet and AJ to use so that their own footwear could remain dry. 

She would have undoubtedly done the same for the others too if they hadn't been in a state that forced them to cross together as one.

Thankfully it had only taken another ten minutes of climbing their way up a slow incline before they were able to pass on through the partially collapsed chicken wire fencing surrounding the abandoned farmhouse.

It stood pitifully neglected, with the paint work across its wooden panels extremely cracked and worn. A number of windows on the upper floor had been left smashed and the entire front side of the property appeared to lean precariously forwards.

Clementine kicked off her boots to dry her feet in the vigorously swaying grass, looking skyward again from under the rim of her hat. The clouds remained tinted, appearing to descend ever closer to the group as the earlier yowling wind evolved into a full on howl. She had to assume that rainfall was imminent.

Edging around the side of the house she found that an extension had been built haphazardly at the rear, stretching out their chances of finding the elusive bolt cutters by another 30-40 feet.

"What are we waiting for?" Emryn called out, the tail end of her oversized flannel shirt whipping about in the wind at her knees as Clementine and AJ flanked both sides of the house, peering through the dirtied windows for any sign of activity - walker or otherwise.

"Doors and corners." Clementine shouted back, her explanation clearly not quite sufficing as she heard Violet elaborate on her behalf moments later.

"She's making sure that we're not walking into an ambush! Or a family of overall wearing walkers!" She quipped, with Clem and AJ returning to join them soon after, seeking cover under a tiny porch and relatively satisfied with their brief reconnaissance.

"It looks clear downstairs. But who knows. There's an extension out back, could be something hiding in there." Clementine relayed knowing it was a stretch.

"Great! Can we get inside then?" Kacey asked, arms folded tight to her chest as her thick, strawberry blonde mane sat blown back off her forehead. Emryn made a move to push open the door on the back of this request but Violet spoke up, delaying her attempt.

"Hold up, we're still gonna need someone to keep watch." She said, looking at the four girls. Emryn reacted immediately to what she was suggesting.

"Fuck no. Get the kid to do it." She said, shaking her head angrily.

"Look, you guys are chained together, we're not. We can cover every room in this place quicker than the four of you can. And well, eight eyes are better than two for keeping watch, right?" Violet explained with diplomacy.

Emryn scowled. "This is bullshit. If you're just gonna have us sitting out here on the porch like dogs then what was the point in us even coming?" She asked, as though they'd actually been invited.

"Some of us didn't want to come" Lacey Mae muttered under her breath, or at least it seemed that way with the sheer noise of the swirling wind.

"No, YOU didn't want to come! I mean we had to practically drag you out of bed earlier." Emryn spat at her new target, but Lacey Mae refused to stand down.

"Well the others only agreed to come after you freaking wore them down for three hours straight!-" She shot back, getting so riled that her voice was becoming shrill beyond recognition.

"Ha! I want out of these fucking chains, Lace! And I'm not going to let _you_ \- or anybody else for that matter, make me feel like shit for wanting that."

The arguing continued between the eldest and youngest of the four, with neither entertaining reason and each comeback growing more vicious than the last.

In fact it became so heated that they completely drowned out Clementines attempt to ensure them they'd be able to go over the place themselves once she, Violet and AJ had done so first.

Danika nudged her in the ribs lightly during a second attempt and cocked her head toward the door, a motion that insisted they should take the opportunity to search the place now while Emryn was suitably distracted. Clementine didn't need telling twice.

All three slipped over the threshold, carefully daring to close the door behind them through the fear of drawing Emryns attention back to the matter that had set her off in the first place. Though they realised quickly there wasn't much chance of that as Kacey could be heard jumping to Lacey-Mae's defence. 

"Holy mother is that girl a piece of work." Violet said exasperated, half slumping her back up against the door as it clicked shut, the voices on the other side becoming slightly muffled.

"She's a bitch!" AJ added flatly, drawing a disapproving look from Clementine, though she didn't know why she bothered to do so anymore with the likes of Lilly, Nate and Emryn cussing in response to each and every inconvenience.

"Let's just get this place searched quickly, the sooner we get them free, the sooner she can be out of our hair." Clementine said, flipping up the collar on her washed out jacket as the cold swirled throughout the house from the broken windows upstairs.

She lamented her lack of patience toward Emryn, and despite her words wished there was another way for this to go. A way for them all to coexist in the bunker after freeing the girls. Because she knew beyond the arguments, they would be stronger together. Whether that was against The Homecoming or something worse.

She turned to face the dust layered room, trying to think of where they could start the search. But she would quickly realise that there in lay the problem. One they should have foreseen long before making the journey there. 

Violet spoke up, the same realisation dawning on her too. "Um, Clem..."

"I know, Vi. I know. Shit." Clementine replied, closing her eyes in sheer despondency. AJ looked between them both, a little slow on the uptake.

"What?" He asked. 

It was a moment or two before Violet got up the will to answer on Clems behalf. "I don't think we're going to be leaving here with a set of bolt cutters, AJ." She said.

"Why not?" He responded predictably,  oblivious to the reason. Violet afforded him a question rather than an answer in response, attempting to nudge him to enlightenment.

"Well, where in a house would _you_ keep a set of bolt cutters?" He pondered briefly before catching up to Clementine and Vi's shared conclusion.

"I... probably wouldn't. I'd keep them outside, like in a shed or something." He answered, hammering it home that they'd been so ill-advised in choosing their next destination. It left them with little prospect of success.

Clementine waved the other two forward anyway, trying to remain positive and resolving to scour over the place quickly. Though having taken the second floor, the only discovery Clementine made was that the argument outside raged on with all four of the girls now partaking as she peeked down through the broken shards of glass of a once intact window.

Though with all the voices clamoring to deal the knockout blow, it was almost impossible to decipher what anyone of them were saying. 

She withdrew back down stairs, finding AJ having climbed almost completely into a rather musty smelling cupboard under the kitchen sink, knocking various aerosols everywhere in the process. It was obvious that he would return to her side empty handed.

Clementine then waited on Violet to drop back to the floor, having used a chair to desperately wave her hands across the top of a china cabinet, rather grand for the premises. She ran her hands down her face in discontent, unintentionally leaving a trail of grime from her cheeks to her neck. "This is not happening." She moaned. But it was.

Within five minutes they had exhausted nearly every potential place of search. And there was no guarantee that the extension out back was being used to house much of anything either.

"Dare we?" Clem asked, entrenched with zero enthusiasm as she motioned for Violet to take the lead. She wasn't sure she could open the door herself to be faced with another dead end.

Yet Violets immediate response to pulling down the handle and cracking the door ajar did nothing to let Clementine know whether the news was positive. "Holy shit." She said in a whisper, testing the doors hinges as she flung it wide open before standing back. 

It would have been just a pitch black mouth inside the three metre wide extension but for a small number of holes in its tin roof allowing a few natural spotlights to breach the darkness.

Though Clementine still found herself squinting to find a makeshift workshop inside, at least she figured it likely would have been judging by the wooden work stations she could just about make out against the walls.

Now it was just a chaotic and cluttered mass of objects piled waist high, giving them hope and despair in almost equal measure. For there could certainly be a set of bolt cutters inside, but sifting through the compacted mess could prove near on impossible.

"It's a fricking death trap." Violet said, summing the room up perfectly. There were definitely enough sharp edges rising from the pile to do some serious impalement if one were lose their footing climbing through the chaos.

"Just be very careful." Clementine warned rather obviously while trying to convince herself she had faced worse odds plenty of times before. She drew in a deep breath, hoping rather foolishly to hold onto it until she was able to exit the unstable structure (the wind was now battering the sheets of corrugated tin acting as walls around them), arms aloft with the prize she sought in hand.

She started to move cautiously over the precarious surface inside, with both AJ and Violet bringing up the rear; initially following along the path she was forging before diverging onto their own. Every few minutes or so she would hear one of them curse or yelp having nicked some exposed skin on one of the many jutting tools or material beneath them.

After swimming through the miriad of mostly broken matter for some time herself, Clementine started to feel the claustrophobic nature of the room, moving then to position herself directly under one of the holes in the roof to better see exactly what she was picking up and subsequently flinging further into the tunnel shaped extension.

She listened as the howling persisted on outside so viciously that it would push her to wonder whether the girls had taken their quarrelling inside to escape it. She tried to peer up through the bullet sized hole but all she saw was a minute amount of the doomy clouds that had followed them there. "Any luck?" Clementine called back behind, knowing she wouldn't need to ask if there'd been any.

"It'd help if I could see shit." Violets ire echoed back. AJ's answer too was also resoundingly negative. Clem offered up what little help she could in a situation growing more and more dire by the second.

"Try to move underneath one of the holes in the roof, at least then you can see what you're picking up" she said, neglecting to inform them that they would be breathing in the spores dancing under the spotlights if they did so. She withdrew a set of bike handlebars, rolling her eyes at the good her suggestion was doing for her. 

Clementine then swung them from her grasp in irritation with a little too much force; sending them spinning so hard into the flimsy corrugated surface that one of its sheets slipped free from its position in the structure; several gusts of wind bursting through the newly exposed gap so fast they quite literally took Clementines breath away. 

Though it wouldn't be her inability to breathe for those few seconds that made her heart stop. It was what she'd seen behind the fallen panel.

She jettisoned herself backwards in blind panic, crawling and cutting herself up on the hazardous junk as she went, complete disregard for her safety and the utmost for the girls outside.

She heard Violet call out as she passed her, but between the blowing gale and the crashing of items being displaced beneath her rush to get out, it was impossible to distinguish her words.

So Clementine spluttered out her own - "Walkers! WALKERS!" 

She toppled out onto the cold kitchen floor having tried unsuccessfully to ride the wave of paraphernalia that spilled along with her, regaining a bi-pedal stance; a splintered chair leg in hand and various parts of her body twinging despite the adrenaline. 

But Clementine didn't have time to stop and inspect her cuts, instead bolting back through the house, trying to catch blurred sight of the walkers in the half second it took for her to speed past the windows she'd looked through upon their arrival.

In failing to do so she stopped just short of slamming headlong into the front door, fumbling with the handle as noises of chaotic peril met her ear from the other side. It clicked free, blowing open with such ferosity Clementine would have been pushed into the wall had she not released the handle in time.

She held the rim of her hat steady as it flapped relentlessly, the wind attempting to knock it free from her head; and battled her way outside.

The walkers were nine or ten strong and had fallen their way over the side of the porch, some in the process of clambering to swipe at the girls who had somehow managed to wrap themselves around one of the porches far posts in trying to escape. 

It would have been undeniably comical if the panic stricken mistake hadn't made the situation that much closer to there being numerous fatalities.

The walkers snarled as they struggled to stay upright in the lashing wind, though they were drowned out comprehensibly by a screaming Lacey-Mae as she pulled manically at the chain.

It was a useless endeavour however as it would have meant successfully dragging both Emryn and Danika from the other side as they tussled, bare handed with the first bit of rotting flesh to make it within biting distance.

Clementine jumped to action, bowling over the straggling walkers to reach the immediate danger that was Emryn on her back keeping another at bay with her knees, as Danika danced, feebly taking pot shots at the dead to knock it off her captive mate.

Though it only did so when Clementine drove the deadly end of the chair leg through the side of the walkers molding head. Putrifying it instantly when she pulled the weapon out the same way it entered. Emryn covered her face as the brain matter spewed out, with Danika helping to roll the deceased walker off with her feet.

Violet and AJ entered the fray in the edge of Clementines eye; assessing the situation in a split second and making it their mission to distract enough walkers away from the proximate danger zone and further down the incline they had traversed earlier.

Their efforts worked on a couple, with Clementine noticing that AJ had thankfully picked up a weapon of his own on the way out - emptying his '45 would've been wasteful, better used these days against more living, breathing threats.

She spun back around rapidly, hoping and then knowing the two most dear to her would be able to handle themselves better than at least Kacey, Danika and Lacey. 

The former two at least trying to engage in very limited combat while being inadvertently tugged whenever Lacey yanked again at the chains.

Clementine figured the beam would snap in half and collapse the porch on them all before Lacey could ever gain the strength needed to pull all three of the others in the direction she wanted.

She tried to choke out a warning for the young girl to stop, but the wind had started to swirl rapidly around, lodging the words in her throat as the frail frame of another walker blew too close for comfort. 

Clementine swung the chair leg around, blood splatter from the previous victim flying from it; connecting directly with the upper part of its skull and knocking the head clean off its shoulders to roll down the slope upon which Violet and AJ continued to fell the ones they'd successfully drawn away.

Despite trying to hold on for dear life, Lacey Mae soon found herself being unintentionally dragged free from the beam with each of the other girls a united front, though naturally it was Emryn doing most of the work to subdue and stamp the walkers into oblivion.

The attack seemingly ended as quickly as it had begun when with one final addition to the carnage, Clementine held her weapon upright on the floor, thrusting the neck of a walker onto it, the largest splinter jutting out of its skull momentarily before the rest of its body collapsed into a heap in the grass.

Half of the group followed its lead, falling on their backs underneath the swirling vortex raging above and breathing heavily. Clementine guessed it was the first workout they'd had in many a month.

She however stayed on her feet; still on the defense, her eyes flitting about the scene wildly for any sign that the fight would continue - and then further afield once she had the knowledge that they _were_ out of harms way for the time being.

Clementine had in fact been about to retire to getting explanations from the rest of her comrades when a dot in the distance piqued her interest. Though it was the collosal whirling mass of cyclonic debris behind said dot that turned her interest to dread.

Her eyes widened in horror as it ripped rapidly towards their number from afar, unable to believe that the dot at its base managed to stay grounded; it too drawing closer. It was like nothing she had ever seen.

She chanced a look away to the others, with all either standing or sitting bolt upright, in awe of the destructive and surely world ending tornado tearing up the earth ahead, a terrible train-like roar accompanying it. 

Nobody needed to be told what it was. Not even AJ, who raced to her side, never taking his tranced eyes off the creature. Clementine had never faced the end in quite this way before, but she knew that she couldn't fight her way out of this one. They had to hide. That instant.

Knowing that hiding inside the house would only end with them either crushed or flung hundreds of feet away into a tree - if they were lucky, Clementine darted around the side of the porch in haste. 

Though it was Violet skirting the other side that found what she had been looking for. A basement. They crowded around it desperately; Clementine failing to surpress a cry of anguish as they realised in a cruel moment of irony that a chain sat wrapped around the handles they pulled at.

And if they couldn't get the girls free without a pair of boltcutters, they weren't getting any sanctuary from the tornado either.

Clementine pushed back through the crowd of bodies baying for asylum, at a total loss for what to do or where to go. They hadn't finished searching the extension but everything inside would be halfway across the state in a few minutes time.

She tightened her grip once again on her hat, the _D_ on the front threatening to tear from its re-sown stitch. The spinning wall of doom, hundreds of feet high bulldozing its way across the ground, a lonely solitary tree she had initially thought sat a safe distance away bending towards its pull. 

That was before a monsterous flash from the clouds reduced it to a smoking pile of atoms. The lightning spitting intermittently as it threatened more annihilation. Clementine looked at the dot again, still in disbelief that it remained in existence. Only it wasn't a dot anymore. Her jaw dropped as the figure became identifiable. 

It was Nate. Pedalling furiously on a bicycle; a rider on the storm.


	5. Chain Of Events - Part Five: The Blind Side.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was tough to write. And you'll see why. Once again its new territory for me as a writer and navigating it is a real challenge. And also why I believe my chapters are taking longer to finish this time around. Hopefully the wait remains worth it though.
> 
> Its not perfect by any means, but I hope its still me for you readers. Rather than giving myself two days off this time around I'll start my next chapter right away, its the last one of this 'episode' so I'll strive to have it done before next Wednesday!
> 
> Thanks again :)

[](https://imgur.com/dBld7uX)

*

 _Everything_ told her to run. The freight train of sound steaming towards her. The prospect of imminent death sweeping through her bones. The relentless tugging on her arm from Alvin Jr. The frantic pleading from Violet, doing her unknown best to block her line of sight. 

_Nothing_ succeeded. Leaving Clementine herself to continue in the same vain. She looked straight through her partner to Nate, waiting for him to be ripped from the ground he rode upon. To disappear violently into the swirling mass of black; himself becoming, well, _nothing._

And yet he appeared to defy the odds, outstripping the tornado for so long that Clementine's wait with resignation somehow morphed into a willing with anticipation - if only for him to just live long enough to reach them. Because they had no answers. No salvation. Only another length of chain testing their sanity. Or in this case, mortality.

It wouldn't be until Nate careered off his bike in trying unsuccessfully to skid to a stop that Vi and the others were able to realise why exactly Clementine had ignored their pleas to flee; they too becoming dumbfounded at what they knew had to have just transpired as Nate slowly regained his feet.

He brushed his faded camos down leisurely as he did so, the tornado at his back doing its level best to tear the trees from their roots, close enough now that large bouts of hail the size of golfballs were starting to pelt mercilessly down upon them.

In fact it would take one striking the crook of Clementines neck and shoulder to bring her back to the reality of the situation. No matter how ludicrous it currently was for them.

She threw out several curses that were lost to the rolling thunder before they ever met anyones ears, and flinched at her own touch as she instinctively tried massaging the broken skin.

Clementine held her eyes closed tight in attempt to subdue the rage building within her. Not that she had the time to zen her way to a resolution. But then screaming the world to a halt wasn't a viable option either. 

Fearing another shot from the sky she moved quicky. At first spinning where she stood to locate Emryn and the others consumed once again in trying to gain entry to the basement; maddened at their inability to do so. Then setting her sights back on Nate, she rushed forward to gain his attention, despite AJ sticking to her waist like a limpet mine.

Clementine tried her best to bellow out the situation over Nate's shoulder as he stooped to bring his bike back to a standing position, the base of a wagon like something out of the Wild West attached to the back end and also upturned.

He didn't respond, instead continuing to reposition his bike before crouching back down to be by its side. She joined him and tried again, matching the lung bursting volume of her previous attempt in his ear; all the while wondering how his skin managed to smell like he'd spent the day under the hood of a car.

Clementine felt his forearm connect with her chest, pushing her away and to the floor. She jumped up immediately, in part to block both AJ and Violet from bum rushing Nate to the ground with a vengeance, and to cut her losses trying to get through to him. She didn't know where his head was, but there was no time to wait for it to come out the other side. 

It was so deafeningly loud now within the vicinity of the tornado that they were forced to communicate via means other than words. Though when Clementine started to stomp the heel of her shoe on the planks of wood making up the door to the outside basement, it didn't take a rocket scientist to follow her lead.

If it wouldn't open outwards, they would cave it inwards. Clementine would play a little dodgeball from debris flying down through the broken door if it meant their collective survival. Those that could soon joined her, jumping up and down on the door somewhat ill-advisedly, as if it gave way they would likely have a number of rolled ankles to deal with.

She had started an attempt to get the others concentrating their efforts on one loosening plank when she found herself pulled away once again by a returning Nate, with the others suffering the same fate. He stood over the basement doors, tucking his hat into the back of his pants before the wind forcibly removed it off his head.

And then he shook his balding crown, reaching to take a fisted grip on the chain wrapped around the handles; yanking them free with ease. Seconds later he was descending the steps nonchalantly while the rest of their number scrambled - some head first, to join him in safety.

The last inside, Clementine picked up the discarded chain, realising that in their earlier panic they had overlooked the fact no padlock could even be found hanging from the links. 

She took one last look at the swirling tower of terror hurtling hail almost on top of them now, and pulled the doors shut, needing AJ's help to hold them so while she quickly knotted the chain as best she could between the handles.

Clementine then ushered him down the steps and into the pitch black basement, finally able to hear again. Though for the moment it was all heavy breathing and Lacey-Mae's whimpers from somewhere in the corner. She called out to Vi.

"I'm over here" She answered from the darkness cloaking her. Clementine rolled her eyes for all the help it gave.

"I don't know where 'here' is Vi. Just keep talking and I'll find you." She replied, then moving to the sound of her voice; with one hand in AJ's while holding the other out in front of her body.

Mercifully she made it to Violets familiar touch without accidentally groping any other on her way. She let go of AJ briefly to embrace her, blindly cupping her cheek and kissing her amenable lips before three sat together against the icy cinder blocked walls.

Aside from Lacey-Mae's mewling, they waited in relative quiet for a few minutes, listening to the chain wrapped around the door rattle menacingly as the tornado howled closer, very likely to pass right over the top of them. 

The events just transpired spun inside Clementines head as she sat, eyes trained on the sliver of light streaking through the basement doors. She had questions, and the itch to commence a debrief much in the way Lilly would. A thought that made her initially shudder.

However she started her line of questioning with all the tact of the aforementioned survivor. "So what happened to keeping watch?" She asked, coldly. It was a few moments before a reply came from the same corner Lacey Mae occupied.

"Take a listen, we couldn't hear shit out there." Emryn said defensively.

"You don't look with your ears. Besides, you might've stood more chance of 'hearing shit' if you all weren't at each others throats, _again_ " Clementine accused. She felt Violet place a hand on her shoulder, a warning to not get too antagonistic.

"Uh, we'd actually calmed down, like a lot by that point, Clem... I mean, Lacey was practically giving Emmy the silent treatment." Danika's voice carried, though what she said didn't mean too much to Clementine. Emryn was quite capable of holding an argument with thin air.

"Don't call me Emmy." Emryn interjected quickly, with the sound of their chains being yanked like she was simply telling off a disobedient dog.

"Ow! Why not? You always call me Danni. And Lacey 'Lace' and Kacey 'Kace'" Danika answered back sheepishly. Clementine never ceased to be amazed at how easily the girls were able to veer off task. She steered them back.

"So how exactly did the walkers end up on top of you if you were paying attention-" She'd started before a sniffling Lacey Mae found her voice.

"It was my fault, okay!? They _were_ still arguing but I was the one who didn't see them coming." She said, trying to take the blame, though not solely as she shifted a little. "I said I didn't want to come." She added meekly.

Clementine however wasn't going to let her take the brunt so easily. "I know you didn't Lacey. This isn't your fault. If they were still arguing-" Lacey cut her off again before she could finish, it was becoming a regular occurrence when dealing with the girls.

"No, it was! _I_ jumped over the porch - I just wanted to let them get on with it... so I did what you said and tried to keep watch around the corner, but the walkers, they came up on my shoulder" Her tone was one of helplessness. Clementine noticed Nate pass through the slight beam of light to position himself, slacked back on the stairs.

"Well, I don't wanna be a dick now-" He started, going on to be a dick. "But maybe if you pushed the hair outta your face every once in a while, you might've seen something." The annoying thing was that he wasn't wrong, not that many of them would ride with his assertion. Especially when it seemed to make Lacey-Mae burst into tears. 

"Stay out of it Nate!" Vi snapped, peturbed enough to leave Clementines side so she could go help mollify Lacey. "You weren't here. It doesn't concern you." 

Nate appeared to feign surprise as he replied. "What? It's true ain't it? I'm betting you they attacked her from the right, right?" He asked. An increase in Lacey's wail answered the question. "That's what I thought."

"There's no need to be a fucking asshole about it!" Kacey growled from the black, her voice almost unrecognisable from the usual playful cadence.

"Oh, come on. I ain't about making teenage girls cry, alright? I'm just shooting straight here." He clocked back, leaving himself open to matters Clementine would have immediately brought to his door had Lacey Mae's next utterance not made everyone stop in their tracks.

"It wouldn't have made any difference." She whimpered, struggling to get out the all important why. "I can't see anything out of it. I'm blind." 

The atmosphere tightened on the back of her revelation. Though for all three of Emryn, Kacey and Danika, it was through sheer confusion. And they all voiced it simultaneously.

"What!?-"

"How!?-"

"When!?-"

They asked incredulously, clearly having been in the dark as much as Clementine, though for much longer too. "Well then, I didn't see that coming" Nate said from his wouldbe throne.

Clementine wondered whether he realised the poor taste of his statement. Luckily it passed under the radar of the others who waited on tenter hooks for Laceys explanation.

"It's just the one eye... it's _why_ I always have my hair down over it." Clementine still couldn't see much more than the shadowy outlines of any of them, but she imagined Lacey glaring across in Nate's direction when saying this.

"And you really need to ask when, Em? You know better than any of us how rough Kitch could be. You came back bloody more times than we could count." She carried on, her voice quaking.

"Because I fought back more times than I could count, Lace..." Emryn replied, for the first time sounding empathetic, tender even. It surprised Clementine to hear that she had this in her.

"Well you weren't the only one. At first anyway... I guess he just hit me that hard he knocked something loose. My vision didn't go straight away but it got worse over time until I woke up one day and I couldn't see out of it no more." Lacey explained further.

Clementine was now even more satisfied with essentially castrating Kitch before kicking him off the cliff to his death. "Oh, Lace. Why the hell didn't you say something?" Danika asked. Lacey responded with defeat as she recalled her reasons.

"No point. Who was going to save it? And besides, I know this sounds morbid but I figured I'd be stuck with those guys for the rest of my life. Never thought I'd be free to fend for myself again. Not that it lasted very long" She made a noise like her breath had caught in her throat forcing out the last sentence.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Emryn asked with genuine concern. Laceys tone hit another level of self-loathing with a reply that pricked the others into even more unrest. 

"Well, I kinda had my hands covering my ears when they came at me. So..." she tailed off, unable or unwilling to finish at first, the pin drop silence pressuring her into doing so however. "One of them scratched my hand before I knew what was happening."

A rush of snap movement followed as the other girls realised what this could mean for them, though their replies were at first rooted firmly in denial. "No fucking way" Kacey blurted out. "Are you sure!?"

"Pretty sure. My hands bleeding and it stings a ton. I didn't exactly have the time to sit and inspect it with that fucking thing outside though, you know?" Lacey Mae announced pointedly toward the hail battering their refuge. She breathed deeply in resignation.

Unfortunately most everyone else hit the other end of the spectrum on the back of her confirmation, with panic in the form of expletives and fractured questions.

"Fuck-" 

"What are we going to do!?-" 

"I've got my hatchet-"

It went on, with even AJ speaking up, tugging on Clementines arm with perhaps the most pertinent question of them all. "Can we turn from a scratch Clem?" He asked, a burning sensation radiating from the hail bruising on her shoulder.

The question left her trying to cycle back through the memories filed under death and heartache for a time that anyone she'd known had succumbed only to a scratch and not a bite.

"I - actually don't know." She said finally, beneath the frenzy.

"Then we can't take the chance right?" He asked again, looking for direction. The truth was that if a scratch could indeed turn the victim, then the chance to save Lacey could have already passed.

She raised her voice over the collective alarm, trying to take some semblance of control back as calmly as she could. "Okay, Lacey, listen to me, we're going to need to get a look at it so we can make sure."

"Make sure what? That I'm dying?" She answered back with a noticeable increase in her sorrowful frame of mind. Those around her doing their inadvertent best to uptick her anxiety.

"To make sure that it's actually a walker scratch. You were thrashing about pretty hard on that chain out there... maybe you cut yourself then and just didn't realise with the adrenaline" Clementine fumbled, desperate to hold on to the hope of best case scenario. 

"Or- or when we pulled you back over the porch?" Danika added with an equal amount of desperation. Nate scoffed to show what he thought of such an unlikely possibility. It was actively ignored.

"Come on, let's just get you into the light, see what we make of it." Violet suggested delicately, despite the very real threat that they could all be ripped from safety at any moment as the tornado seemed reluctant to leave them be.

Though with Lacey Mae in such a funk that she refused the request, her chained allies took the decision into their own hands; with a flurry of movement and agitated noises following until the cluster of girls dragged her towards the steps.

Nate scooted up and out of their path as they passed, succeeding together in placing a struggling Lacey Mae just beneath the thrashing doors, at which point she fell limp, her features now visible and ghost white in the light.

She stared blankly ahead with her one good eye, the other still covered under a curtain of greasy, auburn hair. An almost disassociative state taking over her.

Emryn held the back of Lacey Mae's hand underneath the light; all of them leaning in to examine it closer. There was indeed a gash beneath the bloody sheen; with Danika using the sleeve hanging from her own wrists to dab it as clean as she could.

Muscle sat clearly visible, weepy and off-scarlett beneath the split skin, like the most univiting looking jelly imagineable. But whether the injury had been dealt by a stray nail protruding from the porch, or the nails of a walker, Clementine had to believe the latter. It would be heedless for her to proceed any other way.

"Anyone?" Kacey asked, her voice shaking. Clementine would have preferred to relay her findings to the group without the victim present, but there was zero chance of that.

"I'm sorry, but we've got to take it at the wrist if she wants a chance at staying alive." Clementine informed, regretfully. She waited on Lacey to spring to life. Whether in attempt to escape, or get the job done. However her reaction was worryingly absent.

In fact Emryn took the news more in line with how Clementine had expected Lacey to, with tears starting to seep from her fiery eyes. "Oh, fuck. Oh, fuck! So it is a walker scratch then?"

"I honestly can't say for sure, I don't even know if a scratch does what a bite does. All I do know is we can't take the risk." Clementine implored. They could not afford to stall any longer.

"Vi, can, uh. Can you pass me the-" She didn't need to finish. Violet hurried back down into the darkness, the sound of steel scraping on the concrete floor momentarily as she picked up her weapon.

Nate, with his cap replaced, leaned on his knee from the bottom step. He added one more worry to their list. "You're going to have to knock the poor thing out first." He said, ominously.

Clementine dared a look in Lacey Mae's direction, now extremely thankful her mind still somehow remained elsewhere despite the discussion of how exactly she would be losing her extremity.

"H-how are we supposed to do that?" Kacey asked, only a few notches shy of being in hysterics. It was strange to see the three girls reacting so strongly and out of character. 

It was a distressing situation, there was no denying. But it was almost as if Emryn, Kacey and Danika were empathically taking on feelings that Lacey should've been showing.

"I don't know and I don't care. I'll take the arm-" He went on until Clementine gave him a much needed correction.

"Hand!" She said.

"-Hand then, whatever. But I'm not about to sock the girl in the face... I didn't do it before the end of the world, I ain't doing it now." Nate finished, leaving Clem with the uneasy notion that it could mean he had chopped a limb off before the apocalypse.

"This is too fucking grim." Danika moaned, stroking the back of Laceys hair and wildly unmoved by the destruction going on outside, above her head. 

Clementine feared their window to act was rapidly closing. "I know, but we don't have a choice and we don't have the time. That door isn't going to be there for much longer and we don't want to be in the middle of this when that happens." She stressed.

Though when still nobody appeared to want to take on the burden of knocking Lacey Mae's lights out in lieu of Nate lopping off her hand, Clementine geared herself up to do so. However she was spared, when a tormented and tearful "Sorry" was swifly followed by a crack as Emryn pushed Laceys already vacant head into the wall at speed.

"What the fuck!" Kacey shouted shrilly as Laceys now unconcious body lolled across her lap. She glared at the tear stained face of Emryn, who hiccuped her way through her reply.

"Well nobody else was going to do it! A- and I can't see her die." She protested with a grip on her own hair, the stress of the whole situation no place more obvious than with her. Nate allowed no more time for back and forths as Danika pulled Emryns head to her chest, coddling the distraught teenager.

"It done? Right - hand me that thing" He took Violets hatchet from her grasp. "This is going to be a fucker-" He added, having climbed the steps to join them in under a few seconds.

It was cramped, and there didn't seem to be a particularly desirable angle at which to execute the unenviable task.

"Her arms going to need to be completely flat - no, you can't hold it out, there can't be any give, flat against the stair." He ordered before imploring those that didn't need to be there to descend back down and out of his way.

Clementine and AJ did so, watching Nate then tear a length of his sleeve before he wrapped it tightly a little beneath Laceys wrist. The other figures remained at the top of the stairs, becoming silhouettes as they rearranged themselves to give Nate the room to do what he needed to do.

Luckily Lacey was on the end of the chain gang, ensuring the rest of the girls could stand one step above with only Kacey having to lean forward slightly with the tension.

Nate laid Laceys arm and shoulder across the stone step below. The hatchet tight in his grasp while he edged it over her skin towards her wrist, trying to either work out the best place to cut, or getting up the guts to actually do it.

He called back to Clementine. "You make sure you've got something to wrap her up with when I come down on it, you hear me? I don't do this right and she'll be pissing blood everywhere."

She replied in the affirmative, quickly patting herself down to find suitable enough material to use. Though the truth was she didn't find much to suffice. 

A tearing followed as she ripped a length of shirt away from her own arm, the pressure applied again making her wince at the mercy of her bruised neck and shoulder.

Clementine then readied herself to shoot back up to attend to what would be the freshest wound as Nate muttered to himself, lightly touching the edge of the blade once, twice, three times against Laceys wrist.

Then he lifted it up and above his head without more warning, the spectators having just enough time to flinch their eyes closed as he changed the momentum of his swing, bringing it down hard, the sickening crunch of blade being forced through bone.

A blood curdling scream followed as Lacey was shocked back to conciousness, her body becoming rigid, spasming at the severing of her hand and the blood that began to pour from the amputation.

Nate tried his best to hold her still as he bawled over the noise for Clem to bring something to help stem the flow.

She shot forth, trying her best to avert her eyes from the glaring and gorey wound, though she had undoubtedly seen worse before, and finding it a mistake as her gaze instead fell upon Laceys now unattatched hand.

The three observers above cried silently as Lacey screamed herself back to unconciousness, the same shock that had awoken her having the reverse effect as she lost more blood. She fell limp again, making it at least easier for Clementine to hurriedly wrap up the bleeding mess.

Nate shouted once again, though this time over the wall of roaring wind, its decibels suddenly seeming to soar. "We need to get her out of the way!" He ordered, patently obvious of what; proceeding to pick her small frame up by himself anyway. "And someone hold elevate her arm - straight up! and next to her head!" A need to help slow the flood of crimson.

Kacey being the next in line, overcame an undeniable disgust worn on her face to do so, taking Laceys arm and holding it aloft as best she could as Nate made a move to descend back down the steps with her body. The material around the wound quickly turning dark as it absorbed as much of her blood it could.

Despite the need to move quickly, it had to be done carefully, as any of the girls losing their footing on the way down could turn their descent into dominos; disasterous for Laceys precariously placed mortal coil.

Thankfully though they managed to make it to the stone floor without a hitch, and had been attempting to round the corner out of harms way when their purple patch ended as soon as it had begun. The time had come.

Mother natures heavyweight ceased sparring with the perimiter of the farmhouse, smashing through its walls instead like Goliath swinging his club, the once stable structure now almost certainly thrown skywards and hundreds of feet across the land, waiting to be ragdolled again.

Still, even such an attack would have been surviveable down in the basement. That was if the doors to it had stood firm, instead they were torn completely from their hinges, the monster reaching inside to grab indescriminately at whatever it could take. Whatever it could destroy. Bodies and all.


	6. Chain Of Events - Part Six: 'Luck'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this was going to be the final part of Episode One. But I quickly realised when writing that I had way too much to explore still and if I put it in one chapter itd be about 10,000 words and not arrive for another week.
> 
> So there will be one more part to this episode yet to come! Hopefully by next Wednesday. But i'm not going to put too much pressure on myself from now on to post on time as its not productive for my writing... this was a struggle and I rewrote a lot of it. Surprised I was able to get it out by today actually.
> 
> I know theres not a lot here in terms of scope, but I felt it was important to flesh things out a little more when it comes to the quieter moments. I really hope its up to scratch. And trust me that I do have a plot! Its going to peel back over time as most books do haha.
> 
> Hang in there!

[](https://imgbb.com/)

*

The fear had been that finding themselves inside the shadow of the destructive colossus would see them all immediately sucked beyond oblivion. It was a fear proven to be both fleeting and unfounded however, as in the cracking of a whip Clementine instead found herself thrown like a dust particle through the air; her spine hitting the concrete wall with all the force of the three hundred mile an hour winds desiring her there.

Then there was an eternity, laying with shattered bones; without the rest of her senses. Only a piercing and continuous ringing remaining behind to pinball around her skull. 

It was funny. Clementine always figured she'd go out to a walker bite. Or at least running from one. Reminded with each successful escape that she'd simply edged herself closer to that fateful day. 

Which in truth was something she had wished for in her darkest, loneliest of moments, when the spectre of being the only survivor from numerous groups who'd had their tickets punched, tried slipping penance around her neck.

She just hadn't expected for the powers that be to get so creative when she denied her demons to go on for the sake of her adopted and dependant son. To spin such a monster into existence. To put it in her path with such precision that she couldn't think these disorientated moments were anything but her last.

But that thought went on. And on. Until like a damaged reel of film her mind skipped and jumped its way to the next piece of cognizant thought.

That she could hear again. The frantic sound of voices, trickling through.

Clementine listened to the call of her name, and tried to move. In doing so she found sound was not the only sense to return, though it was one she would have sooner gone without as shockwaves of pain coursed the length of her nervous system with each displacement of weight on her broken body.

She relinquished her resolve to lift herself from the debris that had buried her, instead allowing her paralysis to be rescued by voices she could now distinguish with enough clarity. They were of course AJ and Violets.

Digging at all manner of wood and earth tossed down into the basement, until the pressure preventing Clementines capacity to draw in breath fell away.

"Clem!!" AJ cried, regaining sight of her prone body. He clambered, unsteady, over the mess left in the tornados wake to be by her side. Clementine tried to croak out a reply, but the roughness in her throat ensured it didn't make it to her lips.

She opened her eyes to see Violet, features fuzzy until Clementine was able to properly bring them into focus. She was paler than usual; sweat glistening on her forehead from the fight to uncover her loved one. 

She appeared to struggle for words. Or at least ones that wouldn't be so redundant in the circumstances, like asking after Clementines wellbeing. The anguish she wore was plain to see.

Violet leaned forward instead, slipping her hand into the palm of Clementines. "Can you squeeze my hand?" She asked, concern in the fern of her eyes.

Clementine indulged her request, her fingers feeling like snapping twigs as she closed her grip around the hand in her own. She tried to smile her way through the discomfort; a grimace was all she could afford.

"Okay, good, that's good" Violet responded to the silence. She held on as she twisted around; addressing somebody behind her. "Can we get her out of here? Like, in the open? I think she needs the air." 

One of the girls coughed and heaved their way through a reply. "We all do." Kacey said, leaving Clementine to figure the fact they hadn't already done so meant Lacey was still shy of being in a fit enough state to make her own way unaided.

There was movement with Nate coming to a crouch over Clementine. He took a moment to push more of the debris aside before slinking his arms underneath her brittle back; Violet shushing the outward expression of pain jolting through her synapses as she was lifted.

The patter of rain could be heard on the grass as she felt herself gently lowered into it. Nate left her side, though both AJ and Violet remained. The former tried to shield her from the conditions but she stopped him. The sensation of droplets splashing softly on her cheeks was a welcomed one.

She opened her mouth, the rain water lubricating her throat a little as she swallowed it down. "What happened?" She asked, her larynx slightly less sandpapery now.

"It picked you up and threw you into the wall! It was crazy!" AJ explained, a little too enthusiatically considering Clementine had been the victim.

"It was pretty wild. Like you got roundhouse kicked by a super powered poltergeist or something" Violet added, ever on hand to paint the most unorthadox of images.

"Well, that's comforting." Clementine replied, dripping with sarcasm. "Anybody else hurt?" She continued, clarifying what she'd intended with her initial question. Violet shook her head.

"No more than a few cuts and bumps. That's assuming you remember the whole hatchet on hand thing." She paused, as if waiting on Clementine to actually confirm that her memory bank was completely intact.

"I remember."

Noticing the faintest of whirring, she held out her arm for one of the two to take. Violet hesitated again. "Let's just give you a little longer, okay?"

"I just want to sit up." Clementine reassured, not willing to chance her legs being able to successfully hold her upright weight yet. Violet nodded, bringing her to face the Farmhouse, or rather the patch of earth upon which it had stood.

Its structure now occupied a much wider area in the form of unidentifiable pieces of shrapnel; strewn about like the victim of a bomb detonated within its walls. The culprit could still be seen, absconding in the far distance.

"At least it'll be easier to search the extension now." Clem joked.

"Oh yeah, a real silver lining." Violet said, unamused. Humour always deserted her when it would be most rewarding to those around her. Emryn ascended up into view from the basement at this juncture, with Kacey and Danika following split seconds later; the latter with a forehead marred with specks of blood.

Then came Nate; Lacey in his arms. She appeared much more alert than last Clementine had seen, the bloodied rags on the end of her right arm held aloft, surprisingly of her own accord. It must have been taking what little reserves she had left with the slowed but continuing bloodloss.

She was placed down beside the rest of her chain gang, who took to flanking her like security detail while Nate again distanced himself. He scoured the war zone, likely in search of the transport he had rode in on.

A long stretch of silence followed as they watched him wander further away from them. So far that Clementine wondered whether he would stop. She hadn't pegged him as someone liable to desert a cause, but after Ryan, she was starting to doubt her knavedar.

Clementine found her gaze broken as she flinched at a droplet hitting the exposed skin where her neck became her shoulder, a white hot sensation like sunburn as she pulled her shirt up to cover it. Violet noticed. "Are you okay?" She'd been asking that a lot lately.

"I'm good, wasn't from hitting the wall or anything" Clementine assured, focusing back on Nate. He'd stopped as a smudge now on the damp plains.

"So I should be any less worried?" Violet asked, batting away her hands and pulling the now sleeveless side of her shirt back to inspect the baseball sized bruising. "That's pretty nasty." She decided. Clem used her good shoulder to shrug in response.

"I've had a shotgun put through my gut." She said, with the unwanted image of Arvo and his punchable face rearing its head. Though the scar ensured she would never be able to get undressed without remembering ever again.

"This isn't Clementine top trumps. That was then, this is now. We'll get back and put something on it." Violet ordered as Nate returned, timely enough to halt the brewing disagreement between them.

The man was beaming, walking alongside his bike and wagon, both miraculously unmangled. The vehicle trailing behind had been christened with the word SIDEWINDER in scratched, white paint. His pride was such that Clementine felt like suggesting a 'Just Married' sign be slapped on both their bumpers. 

In truth her currently burning fuse left her wanting to suggest a lot of things. One such thought being that the next time his gearhead decides to knock her to the ground so he can spend more time with his precious wagon, she would roll it to the bottom of the nearest body of water.

She held her tongue however, with what little of level headedness she had left prevailing to set about fixing more pressing matters. "Look, I know all we want to do right now is sit and catch our breath. But I'm thinking priority is to get Lacey back. Where she can be warm and properly looked after. Louis is good for that." She added, recalling how deft he'd been in treating her knifed leg. "The longer she spends out here the more her odds are gonna drop." 

She finished, bracing herself for someone to pipe up in disagreement, an act that was just par for the course when ever Clementine opened her mouth recently. Thankfully however she was spared.

"No complaints here, I've had my fill for today." Danika said, dabbing her fingers on the sores by her temple.

Kacey echoed the sentiment, subverting Clementines expectations further by vowing never to let Emryn convince her into doing anything ever again. This kind of admission would have usually been followed by a dead arm courtesy of the target. But again Clementine was left surprised.

Emryn skulked her way silently over to the Wagon along with the rest, fringe plastered to her forehead as they bundled their way over and into the back. Her perpetual unrest was still clearly evident, but for once Clementine was unable to work out whom she wore it for.

"What's the fare, mister?" Danika asked, arms across the sides like she was sitting on a corner sofa; mood elevated now she knew they were headed home.

"How about letting me pretend you and this -" he wagged his finger at the chains between the girls. "- don't exist for the rest of the week?" Nate turned his attention back to the trio without a ride. "Am I coming back? He asked, owing to the lack of space left in his apparent prized posession.

Clementine answered before Violet was able to get a word in, her voice still hoarse. "No. We'll pick through this lot and head back on foot. Just, make sure she gets what she needs. Some of your meds would've been handy." She said, bemoaning his trade deal.

"In a ways..." Nate smiled. He then stood up off his seat, grunting as he pushed on the pedals of his bike to gain the required momentum, slowly beginning to roll off down the slope. 

Clementine turned her attention back to the task at hand, or had been attempting to at least before she noticed that Violet was glaring at her. "Why did you turn down a ride!?" She asked upon getting the desired attention.

Aside from being in a bad mood that dictated she make a rash and misguided decision to keep as much distance between herself and Nate et al for as long as possible, she found she didn't have any other reason. Certainly not one good enough to placate Violet with.

She foud herself shrugging again, and despite her legs still feeling like jelly, she made an effort to stand; the bones in her back cracking without her permission as she did so successfully. Clementine then surveyed the fields out in front of her, to where every last object and piece of furniture from inside the house had been launched. She found the grand china cabinet in particular catching her eye, the glass doors smashed through completely, either from the tornado itself or the impact with the ground.

"Well, it might have tried taking me off the table but the tornado actually did us a favour by chucking all this into the open" Clem surmised, picking up the handlebars she'd found earlier while drowning through the extension.

Violet simply clicked her tongue in response, intending to leave the meaning behind it vague. Though Clementine knew it to be nothing more than a passive-aggressive show of discontent. They'd all be clucking like chickens if they were to show their own, she thought.

***

A crepuscular sky had started to bow over them by the time Clementine took to finding ways to curb the knowledge that their search remained fruitless.

They would be unable to see much of anything on the ground at their feet before long. She found she was saved the trouble however when AJ broke her tenuous train of thought.

He approached his desire for her attention with hesitancy. "Clem..." She made a noise to signal that he should go ahead with what he wanted to say. AJ obliged, continuing sheepishly. "I don't like it when you and Violet argue."

Despite Clementine beginning to get whiplash from the constant personality changes of those around her, she would take AJs present approach to addressing the things he didn't like over his earlier outburst regarding Minnie.

"Oh, we weren't arguing, kiddo." She denied. It wasn't a lie, and yet Clem still felt she was being deceptive when she tried smiling him into being content with her answer "She's just tired. We all are." Again, not a lie she told herself, looking away to focus on a tree left standing two hundred or so metres away.

"Then how come she's over there while we're over here?" He replied, returning to bat and referencing the route Violet was treading; parallel and yet far enough away that she wasn't privy to their conversation. Clementine could tell that he'd stewed over this for a while.

"We're just covering more ground this way." She tried again, scuffing her boots along through the knee high grass so she wouldn't over step any instruments that could hold potential to fix the problem now admittedly leaving them all feeling somewhat imprisoned.

She looked back to him again; the look on his face making it clear that particular truth had done nothing to sway him. AJ was becoming a sponge for other peoples problems on top of his own.

"How are you already nearly as tall as me?" Clementine asked, noticing that he barely needed to tilt his gaze when their eyes met anymore. It was part of both a genuine inquiry and attempt to distract his worried mind. Though much like his height, she found that AJs intelligence rose up to her efforts.

"Clem..." He groaned. "Don't change the subject" The finality of his words left her with no option but to try and prove the assertion she herself really only hoped to be true. She searched internally for the best way to gage the veracity of her own claim, one that wouldn't draw too much of a negative reaction if indeed Violet did harbor such irritation.

She started to reply with faux confidence when she thought she'd figured the way to do so, starting to angle her limp towards the isolated tree; every intention to rest beneath it before they inevitably headed home themselves. "We're fine, AJ. I promise. Look -"

Clementine rocked her pigtails back, filling up her shallow lungs underneath the twilight sky. She searched for the Star Bird while doing so; hoping then that her inability to find it up there wasn't a bad omen. "MARCO!" Her bellow echoed out, though the effort left her choking a little from the soreness still in her throat.

AJ was quick to respond, confused at her sudden outburst. "What's a Marco?" He asked. Clementine flapped her arms in a manner than said he should fall quiet. A request that she herself found hard to follow, her cough becoming close-mouthed as she listened for a response.

There would be a few more awkward moments of stifled heaving before Violets sleepy but enthusiastic tone eventually slingshotted back with the response she was hoping for. "POLO!" She cawed, the reply a fast but painless pull on the knot of worry in Clementines stomach.

She smiled, the first honest one since the night before and drawn from her by the same person. "See." Clementine said, as though she hadn't doubted their harmony for even a second. AJ however was now too distracted in getting to the bottom of what 'Marco' and 'Polo' meant and had started to reiterate his question before Clementine shouted the undefined word again, this time with levity.

"MARCO!"

"POLO!"

They carried on. Each time elongating the end of their word a little further into the still air. By the time it got to the point of imitating funny accents they had devolved into laughter, with even AJ giving up a failing interrogation to fall in line. 

Though his attempt at an accent sounded decidedly Floridian, at first throwing Clementine for a loop before the warmth spread through the muscle pumping blood behind her ribs. 

It was a strange way to be reminded of Kenny, but she welcomed it. Content that he'd managed to imprint himself on AJ before his untimely demise, no matter how obscure the way. There was of course a perfectly reasonable explanation for this, with the kid having spent nearly two years mute while Kenny tried his best to coax out his first word.

Yet with the timing, it left her wanting to take it as a sign. That he was somewhere, that all her loved ones were. Living on together without the worry of being eaten alive. That she needn't feel any guilt.

She stopped short of doing so however, as all that would have meant giving credit to a deity that had first made Kenny suffer through that same brutal fate before being allowed to reach any such promised land. The deity that would force many of them to do the same at the end.

She compromised, instead filing 'Floridian Accent' under the 'Positive Signs' column in her head. Adjacent to one headlined 'Cosmic Debris' something she was often left feeling they were. Floating aimlessly and with no control into the next collision with a much bigger piece of matter that strived only to turn them to dust.

Another round of Marco Polo brought her back from the abyss. One last thought paid to how every happy recollection always somehow led her down a rabbit hole that invariably sought to warp her perception of said memory.

The slight change of direction earlier finally saw Clementine come to within an arms reach of Violet, who obliged her desire to hold hands as they walked the short remaining distance; coming to a stop underneath the trees reach. 

Her touch always made her feel like she was in the strongest possible place, the clearest headspace. When it wasn't on the back of her overbearing bedside manner anyway. That she could do without.

Violet stood under the ailing maple, placing a hand against its rotund trunk while Clementine took the immediate opportunity to sit down, her thigh was starting to nettle her again beneath her jeans. She had the brief and ill-concieved idea of just cutting a hole out of them ahead of their next excursion.

Her counterpart sighed, picking away at the bark repeatedly "Guess we're at the end of the road again" She said. It wasn't melancholy born from having to return empty handed, but rather the knowledge they'd be trawling even further astray tomorrow when she failed to convince Clementine to take a day off.

"Until tomorrow." Clementine answered, driving the notion home. Though a shot of pain in her spine followed soon after, as if her insides were showing their lack of appreciation at the suggestion. Maybe she would take a day.

She shuffled herself down by her hips and shoulders until she could almost lay flat, and looked up at the bush laden branches; wishing now that Nate would once again defy her decision to decline his offer of ferrying her back home.

Her stomach cried out now that it was finally able to get a word in, making it known that managing only one measly bar of Pemmican that morning was not enough to pacify its hunger.

Everything was becoming a cycle with her. No food. No rest. And constant pain in between mediating conflicts that it'd really serve her better to just ignore. Even just the other day she'd found herself trying to settle a dispute between Emryn and Nate over whether a Pineapple or Coconut would win in a fight.

It only ended when Lilly made the point that it wouldn't matter, as with a little bit of rum they'd all be getting something called a Pino Colada.

"Where- else are we- even going to go?" AJ asked having slinked around the other side of the tree. He had started to make strained noises that found Clementine counjouring up some images that she'd have rather left well enough alone.

"Um, AJ. What exactly are you doing?" She questioned as Violet sniggered into her side. She too had laid down now, stroking the same area of Clementines starved stomach in circles, her shirt lifting slightly with each rotation.

"I'm- trying- to climb this tree." He called back again, restoring his innocence in Clementines imagination. Still, she shook her head, barely fathoming how he still had the energy, or the ability.

"And you're doing that because...?" He strained some more, the sound of tension in one of the branches increasing, with her left to figure he was either standing on or edging along it. "You're going to end up breaking a bone in your butt if you fall you know. And then I'll break another when I kick your ass for being so silly." She added jokingly.

AJs only reply was to make another low and inarticulate sound as he persisted. Clementine rolled her eyes at his folly, at least when she'd climbed her first tree, there were both ladders and somewhere to go once she reached its summit.

She moved her arm to cradle Vi closer, massaging her absentmindedly. Though rather than mirroring Violets repetitve action, Clementine expanded her scope to draw little notes of 'I Love You's and 'Forever's over the small of her back. It was nice. Peaceful. And all too rare of an occurence for the outdoors.

Their bubble of tranquility was soon burst however as the tension on the branch AJ had obviously been scaling hit its limit of resistance; snapping to take both itself and he to the ground with a thud. "Clem..." his voice came moments later.

"Yeah, yeah, we heard." Clementine said, relinquishing her position of comfort to stand and brush herself down. "You can't say I didn't tell you." AJ tried to protest his innocence but it fell on deaf ears as she dragged herself around to his side of the tree, expecting to find him doing some of his own massaging. And yet when she got there, she found nothing but the newly snapped branch.

She scratched her head, quickly scanning the immediate area; even doubling back on herself to where Violet sat, just in case he was giving her the run around. But she found her partner alone, perplexed at Clementines sudden reappearance.

She'd been about to mutter her inability to find the child when AJ's voice came to her again. "Clem!" He said, this time with a little more exasperation.

She realised that the call had come from above. He was still up there. Though in cocking her head to spot him, she found herself surprised by the comical image before her.

AJ dangled by his arms from something protruding out of the tree. So high that Clementine by herself could not reach his swinging legs. She stood underneath him, stunned as she realised exactly what it was he was hanging from.

The smooth handle of a monstrous axe, the tool embedded so deeply in the trunk that Clementine could barely see its blade shining from the bark it had sought to split in two. AJ looked down at her, the angle giving him a double chin.

"It's not a set of bolt cutters, but do you think this could work?" He asked, clearly in a pained state at desperately trying to keep his grip over gravity. Clementine smiled as she readied herself to catch him should he fall.

It _could._


	7. Chain Of Events - Part Seven: Bringing Home The Beacon.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's been a hell of a long time coming and I'm incredibly sorry for that. I essentially quit for a while through stress. And writing fan fiction should never be that. So I won't be trying to rush any chapters hence forth. They won't come every week but they also won't come after a three month gap either. It'll be best for everyone in the end I hope.
> 
> So here's the long awaited Chapter. I hope you all enjoy it! I'm going to say this one is the final one of Episode One as it sort of book ends the search so to speak. And the next chapter will kick off new plot points. So lets go with that.
> 
> There's also the bonus that its my longest chapter yet. In either story. Okay...
> 
> 3, 2, 1, and we're back.....

*

[](https://imgur.com/tXCqaEj)

It wasn't clear exactly how the axe had gotten lodged in the Sugar Maple, only that it had taken almost two hours and a human tower to pry it free.

At her best guess Clementine figured the tornado had picked up the tool and launched it with such force as to bury it the notches needed to make their job predictably difficult. And it proved so, much to their chagrin.

Though with the initial and unusually fatuous decision to station Clem and her never ceasing list of injuries at anchor, with AJs light and therefore limited strength heading up the operation, the trio were hardly a formidable force, at least for the assignment at hand.

In fact it had taken more than a few attempts (all ending with her leg buckling under the weight) before Clementine was moved up into the middle of the pack; not that this immediately solved the problem either, as they would continue to find whenever AJs grip suddenly slipped off the sweat greased handle.

The penultimate and collective crash of spines into the ground on the back of this was followed by Violets well founded and yet pessimistic assertion that the handle would break off the blade long before they gained any success. It would be their luck, Clem thought. 

Thankfully AJ remained steadfast in his stubborness, insisting that the axe was shifting ever so slightly with each failed attempt. Surprisingly after her comment, Violet too remained on board, trying her best to coax Clementine by promising to let her wrap her thighs around her head in a much comfier setting later in the evening.

Despite feeling both weak at the thought and accepting of the terms, it was simply Clementines desire to keep AJ appeased that saw her allowing him to scale her one more time; her shoulder screaming out for reprieve from his footfall all the while. She tensed in defiance, jerking ever so slightly on Violets own shoulders as the latter endeavoured to hold them steady; AJ's determination such that the noises he made yanking on the handle sounded more akin to those of a grown mans.

That was until too much motion up top sent them toppling backwards for the final time, his voice immediately shrinking back to that of a scared child as he braced himself for the impact that would find them all heading home with at least one more bruise to add to their collection.

Clementine groaned while Violet cursed, both reasonable reactions to the failure they had all just suffered. AJ on the other hand began to laugh maniacally, causing Clementine to briefly wonder how she'd missed the signs that he'd been so close to insanity. After all he'd known afflictions much more likely to send him over the edge than this.

She stretched an arm out from her newly lateral position, intending to place a calming touch on whichever of his limbs she made contact with first. However the one she found felt strangely rigid, resistant to the contraction of her fingers, and rather thin for purpose.

She flipped rapidly onto her front in confusion with the nightmarish thought that what she'd felt was somehow exposed bone. It was a wild notion that reflected the harrowing situations she'd not only gone through, but been forced to relive over again on occasion when she closed her eyes.

The image of Sarita's arm spewing up blood like a cherry drop fountain flashed across the fore of her mind before the realisation of what she'd actually touched dawned on her, making her feel thoroughly stupid in the process. It wasn't the first time her core had made something innocent turn macabre.

"Don't say I didn't tell you!" AJ continued to laugh, an attempt at throwing back Clementines earlier sarcasm when she thought he'd fallen from the tree. The only difference here being she never openly doubted that he would succeed. It was mis-readings like this that showed he still wasn't quite there with the intricacies of language.

She allowed him off the hook from another such lesson however, shaking Sarita from her scarred mind to beam back at her growing boy as he sat across the way. The axe lay intact between them; the edge of its blade looking dulled but deadly enough. Especially if wielded with intent. And every last one of them had that.

***

For the first time their journey back to the bunker was a jovial one, even with their labored pace. All three genuinely hopeful that the axe would be able to fulfill their desires, despite the way it was expressed by Violet in particular. "If this doesn't work, I might just draw a line across the back of my own neck, let you end it all" she joked, the morbidity of her humour remaining unchanged.

Clementine shushed her over the noise of AJ dragging the axe along the concrete behind him, she didn't need another traumatic image added to the already overflowing horrors inside her head, especially when that particular notion would serve as the straw to break the camels back. 

"What? If it can't free them from their chains it can at least save me having to suffer through Emryn's bitching about it." Violet ribbed again. Clementine only rolled her eyes in response.

The sound of scraping steel would dull significantly as they once again arrived onto the grassy grounds of their home; a cursory glance finding nothing obvious to alert them to any danger that could be lurking near. Tenn's grave sat alone in the darkness, signalling that both Minnie and Sophie had retreated inside The Greenbrier themselves.

Clementines gaze lingered too long for Violets liking, and having guessed what she had been thinking based on the previous nights pillow talk, set about promptly disuading her. "Don't, Clem. Let's just go to sleep on a win for once shall we?" She begged.

Clementine looked to AJ, trying to gage just how long the celebration of freeing the girls would distract him before the difficulties with Minerva crept back to the forefront of his mind. It was starting to feel like she needed to take a wire brush to both of their brains.

"Clem, you deserve to be there when the chains come off. And the girls, they're not going to wait a second after we show them the axe." Violet persisted, lowering her voice then "AJ will be fine until the morning" Clementine rebutted the line in her head. Would he 'be fine' until then though? Or would he just suffer?

She settled on a curt nod and climbed to The Greenbrier entrance, the axe making its presence known again as it clanged off each step. It would have been much kinder to the ears if it had been carried, but Clementine had figured dragging it five miles would give the blade some much needed sharpening.

Taking ownership of the weapon she crossed through the shattered glass doors of the entrance, a risable thought coming to her that she'd spent years now wishing for some semblance of routine, and yet in navigating the halls, slipping behind the false panel, and rapping hard on the tonnes heavy steel just as they had four days running; she found there was a fine line between routine and sheer monotony.

Louis' familiar heave-ho came from the other side promptly, the door creaking open to its usual smidge to allow the trio back inside. His lab coat wasn't present tonight, but a sense of relief on his face was. "Glad to see at least you guys made it back in once piece." He said, patting each of them as they slipped through, though he left them wincing as he did so, managing to find each of their various bruises.

"Sure doesn't feel like it." Clementine replied, leaning the axe up against the wall to hug Louis from behind, the other two following suit to provide sufficient enough weight to close the door back up. Louis then called back over his shoulder as he span the wheel clockwise until it would do so no more.

"Yeah, you look like shit" He said, flatly. Violet cleared her throat, though it did nothing to intimidate Louis when he turned around. "Alright then. Clem, you still look a fine piece of ass to me." He said, daring Violet to bite. Though for once she managed to refrain.

"Point taken" she said, understanding where his snark was coming from - that no matter the sincerity of his reply, positive nor negative, she was always liable to have a problem with it. 

Louis picked up the axe as they started their decent deep into the ground, saving their aching arms. "So I'm going to assume you guys aren't blind and know full well that this isn't a pair of bolt cutters..." He asked sarcastically.

"I would keep jokes about blind people to yourself going forward, Lou." Violet replied, going on when he looked at her puzzled. "Let's just say a hand isn't only thing Lacey is missing"

"No shit?" Louis said, taking no time at all now to understand. "Nobody mentioned anything while I was patching her up. How'd something like that happen?" He asked, confirming that Clems instructions had been followed in the process.

"Honestly, I'm not even sure she knows properly. It happened way before she ran into us though. Some guy from The Homecoming." Vi said. Clementine filled in the blanks, not that he especially needed to know them, but the knowledge had given her some sense of satisfaction, maybe it would he. "You remember the one you kicked off the cliff?"

"That guy whose cocktail sausage you skewered?" Louis asked, to which she nodded just once. "Ah, yes, good times" He said, pretending then to reminisce as they reached level ground again. 

Maybe if she hadn't been stabbed in the thigh half a dozen times during the fight, Clementine thought. "So what's the plan? Are we gathering everyone together like some sort of celebration?" Violet asked as they paused in the passage way.

"Not to be a downer but I say just get on with it. Other than letting Emryn out of our hair I don't see that anyone else is especially invested." Louis said, as Clem took to wondering whether Emryn would even wait to massage the sores on her hips before bolting for the freedom she so desired. "Besides, tomorrow is a day more fit for revelry!" He added.

"Why's that?" AJ asked from the height of Louis' elbow, voicing everyones perplexity. Louis lifted both arms and began to move them theatrically, another performance imminent.

"Well I'm glad you asked, young sir! For tomorrow, is a day of great significance. Of historic noteability within our group! For you see, on tomorrows day, exactly fourteen days prior, our dear friend and your makeshift mother, started a quest..." He moved to highlight Clementine as she eyed him back, trying to work out what he was getting at. She didn't have to wait long however as he went on.

"A quest with great riches at the completion of such a gruelling mission. Riches of live music! And banquets! Tru-eth and Dare-th! And most of all, tastefully nude synchronised aquatics from yours truly!" Louis' smiled flashed wickedly as his peformance captivated Violet and Clementine, though he cared not that it was for the wrong reasons.

"Spit it out, dickwad" Violet said, arms folded like a mother waiting as her child turned a single sentence into an essay. Her tiredness was more than apparent in her irritability.

"Please m'lady. Do not deter me!" Louis responded, though when she scowled back he promtly decided against more theatrics. "Fine! Tomorrow, is fourteen days since dear Clementine over here quit coffee. And a miracle if I do say. To be honest I think she had an unfair advantage with The Homecoming distracting her but I'm willing to let it slide."

"Uh, Lou, sorry to burst your bubble here but it's been 15 days now... 16 if its gone midnight..." Clementine explained, pulling a face that said she was pained to inform him. Louis however shook his head feverntly.

"Incorrect! It is fourteen days! I made sure of it! We started this, how do you say, wager, on November 2nd!" He said, faux fiercly. Clementine did not disagree with this assertion, she knew he was correct here because it was the morning after she had spent the night talking about the anniversary of Lee's death with James.

"Not in contention with that" Clementine said, drawing breath to go on before she was once again found wanting. 

"Fantastic." Louis said gleefully. He then pulled a small watch from his pocket, the screen of it cracked, and held it out by the strap in front of him. It was Lilly's. "I took the perilous liberty of snaffling this from a drawer in her room-"

"She'll kill you if she finds out you've taken it..." Clementine said.

"Borrowed, and I only did so in case we came to such an impass as we currently have. Now, can you tell me what it reads?" He asked, cock-a-hoop.

Clementine squinted in attempt to see past the crack in the watch as Louis let it swing gently. She had to change her angle slightly to properly see the date. Then her eyes widened with elightenment. "November 15th..."

"Aha! And it is 23:03. Which means you have a mere 57 minutes to go! And I think its safe to say you're not going to cave now. So, I believe I have a party to plan!" He announced, before chucking the watch to Clementine, who double checked the screen.

She looked to her blonde girlfriend. Violet was blushing. Hard. "You knew didn't you?" Clementine asked, quite surprised at her white lie. Her only response was to turn an even deeper shade of red.

"Know what?" AJ asked. Clementine pursed her lips, this wasn't a discussion for anyone's ears but Violets and her own. Louis' lip began to curl though as if he knew what Clementines question pertained to, and she was sure her inability to hide an awkward smile as she fumbled to respond only further clued him in.

"Oh, erm, nothing AJ..." She said, hoping that he would leave it be. "I- Violet just played a prank on me is all. Told me the wrong day..." AJ lifted an eyebrow.

"That doesn't sound like a very good prank." He said, to which Violet snorted bashfully. Thankfully, Louis was on hand to save them both from prolonged squirming.

"Violet's never had much of a sense of humour, AJ. I wouldn't pay it too much mind." He said, stepping in his eyeline and waving Violets persistent sniggering away in the process. "You wanna come start planning this party with me? I think the both of us could come up with some pretty awesome ideas."

AJ peeked his head around Louis' lab coat laden frame to look at Clementine, still in the process of trying to train the smirk off her face. She nodded enthusiastically to give him the okay.

"Okay then" He said. Louis back slapped AJ lightly in response before guiding him around by the shoulder. 

"Well I was pretty confident before, but now I know your party's going to be completely awesome, me and AJ here will leave no stone unturned!" He beamed, his words were genuine and yet the smile was tinged with a look that said Clementine owed him one for saving their blushes.

"I'll let the girls know you were the one that found the axe, kiddo." Clementine said, stepping forward to hug him tight. This time he didn't wriggle free. "I'm proud of you for today." She extended sincerely, thinking beyond freeing the axe, to his help in the fight. His decision to spare his bullets in favour of a different kind of combat.

He stayed silent, but Clementine could feel the difference between his refusal to speak earlier that morning and just not knowing how to respond to such forward praise. It was fine. He was much like her in this sense.

She released him to Louis, who then began taking AJ down the cold passage, though she found herself calling him to a stop momentarily. "Forgetting something?" She asked, throwing Lilly's watch through the air towards him before he could answer.

"I'm not getting caught putting this thing back." She said as Louis closed his palm on the object. He winked, flashing one of his patented mischievous smiles.

"Touchè"

***

Clementine had at first anticipated a half hour or more of both she and Violet bobbing their heads in and out of empty rooms along the seemingly never ending passage way of the bunker. And for once the laborious task would have been fine, affording Clementine the time to pursue Violet and the white lie she'd told on the way to taking her virginity. All in quite innocent fun mind. She could never hold that night against her, no matter how it had come about.

However the opportunity never arose, with Clementine's initial assumption of how long it would take to find their targets needing re-evaluation only five doors down in their search. And logically so, she thought retroactively upon registering six bodies inside the room on her left. They wouldn't - and hadn't taken Lacey-Mae further than absolutely neccessary. 

She was laid on her back on one of two bottom bunks, either sleeping or passed out again; the other three girls sat at her feet. They were all in varying states of distress from the days events, though Clementine was surprised to see it was Emryn moreso than the others who teetered on catatonia. It was strange to know her so still.

Clementine noted Lacey's now stump had been redressed only upon seeing her own blood soaked sleeve discarded on the floor before glancing Lilly and Nate sharing the adjacent set of bunk beds.

It may well have been the first time they had occupied the same space since learning of each others existence. The fact Lilly had petulantly perched herself as far away as humanly possible only gave more credence to the probability considering the two had predictably got off on the wrong foot. Something both were ludicrously good at.

Regardless, the womans position, however juvenile simply didn't matter right now. All that did was her presence. See Lilly had the bluster and bravado down pat, the stoney face, the cutthroat walk and talk, even as far back as the first time their paths had crossed. That was part of her makeup.

Clementine was just thankful that it no longer defined her entirely. That by the time she'd picked her up off the floor amidst war with the Commonwealth almost ten years later, the cold hadn't yet completely consumed her.

Lilly could still care, and had shown as much over the past month or so. It was just nice to know her solidarity didn't have to be shown via a gun in her hand anymore.

Speaking of solidarity, the one thing everybody present had been sharing was silence. Perhaps contemplative, maybe not. Either way it was interrupted as Violet squeezed into the room, past a Clementine that had been successfully standing unnoticed in the doorway.

She found her lovers act put paid to that however, drawing the attention of those not only present, but also lucid enough to notice their arrival. A requirement that currently ruled out Emryn as much as it did Lacey.

"Is she okay?" Violet asked after the bed ridden ones wellbeing, her chest on a shallow rise and fall. Nate got to his feet and kicked some feeling back into his legs, however it was Lilly who spoke.

"Will be. We had to cauterize the wound and she's been out since. But then burning amputated flesh closed will do that to people." She explained unceremoniously. The faces of Emryn, Kacey and Danika grew more ashen in response.

Nate arched forward as she finished to retrieve what looked like a bulked up pocket knife sitting on the bedside table. The makeshift cautery tool. He wiped the charred material from the blade absentmindedly before closing it into its casing and pocketing it. 

"And I'm guessing that's about as good as it gets today?" He asked, gaze passing over the visibly empty hands of the two newcomers. His tone wasn't accusatory, but Violets response said she had half taken it as such.

"Actually, no." She said, quick to prove him wrong. The interest of two of the three concious girls spiked immediately before she tempered the hope some. "I mean, its not a set of bolt cutters, but it's something." Emryn continued to stare at the wall. A week of letdowns left her needing more convincing.

Nate had begun to question what that something was when Clementine, still in the doorway, grasped the long handle of the axe propped up just out of view. The sound of the blade being dragged front and center dually drowned out his words and answered the wonder in them.

She stopped and waited for a response with the axe underneath her armpit like a crutch, all the while going over the expectations of celebration in her head; how they differed considerably either side of having to chop Lacey-Mae's hand off at the wrist.

Before the tragedy, Clementine figured she could have realistically experienced collective hugs, a few tears of joy, and all around rapture at AJ's find. After the act however, and the best she could really hope for from her audience was muted gratitude. In the end expectation and reality met in the middle.

For instance, somewhat frustratingly true to form, Lilly and her stoney stare remained as unchanged as if she had been shown thin air, while Nate, almost on cue took to nodding at the achievement as he scratched at his non-existent goatee. Both reactions were entirely as envisioned.

But that's where the scene diverged off, and it wasn't even that Emryn flipped out at seeing an axe as oppose to bolt cutters. It wasn't that Clem was met with deflation on the faces of Danika and Kacey.

In fact they wore smiles. Emryn gave no hell. The atmosphere did lift. But only a tick, and Clementine was left wanting more. She had long been mature enough to understand why it couldn't be that way now, and yet was at the point of being pissed off about it all the same.

Maybe that was a selfish feeling to have when someone had to lose a hand today. But that was just it. For every attained triumph there waited at a price. This time even taking before it gave back.

Clementine could feel her negativity fester inside even as Violet walked her into individual embraces from Kacey and Danika, because of course they couldn't move too far. Because Lacey was laid out cold. Because today couldn't have just gone by without a hitch.

Danika found her voice as Clementine, kneeling gingerly, lost her face in Kacey's blonde mane for a moment or two, her cheek dampening as it brushed past a tear on the others freckled skin.

"It looks heavy as hell. Do you think it's definitely going to cut through though?" She asked tentatively as the chain connecting her to Kacey rattled under her inspection. "I mean it should do right?" 

Clementine received a tired but sincere 'Thank You' in her ear as she pulled away from Kacey's grip to contemplate the pertinent question. She met the blondes eyes and squeezed her hand to acknowledge the appreciation as she did so.

"I guess it depends on who swings it. I'd struggle to get the thing off the ground but if Nate - or whoever can get it above their heads, then hopefully?" She answered, her own optimism now dulled.

She struggled back to her feet to allow Violet to bow into her own deserved gratitude, glancing over to Emryn and noting there was non forthcoming from her. In fact she'd gone back to staring at nothing in particular, like she was somewhere else entirely. Soon enough now, she would be.

"Well I'll say I'm almost certain." Nate offered with a little more aplomb as he shuffled over to inspect the weapon closer. Clem saw his slowed gait as a reflection of the long hours he'd spent pulling the 'Sidewinder' behind him, much of that time likely up hill. Some chased by a tornado.

He continued, tilting the dangerous end upright with Lilly making the sensible decision to sidle to the other end of the bed again out of harms way. "It's a little dull though, might take more than one crack." Crouched and steadying the axe with one index finger he looked back over his shoulder. A wait that indicated that he'd be willing to start swinging as soon as anyone started counting him in.

Clementine wasn't so sure it was a good idea right now, and doubted that anyone else thought differently either. She had begun to formulate a discussion on the logistics of hacking at steel chains with an axe in an enclosed space when someone surprising came in with a much more succinct answer.

"No" Emryn said. The word was spoke with a fragile finality, though after a few moments of having all eyes suddenly on her she offered up a slight explanation. "Lace doesn't need that going on around her." An obvious point, just not one they would've previously expected Emryn of all people to empathize with.

"But you've been driving us all batshit about getting out of those things since you got here." Nate replied, still unmoving from his position. Emryn's tone, though brittle, managed to harden a little.

"I've been in and out of them for nearly two years. I'll wait one more night." She said, pulling her knees up to her chest.

"You're serious?" Nate asked once more, seemingly unable to dance with Emryns change in desires. She simply slipped her head between her legs in response. Lilly set him straight instead.

"Leave it." She said curtly, standing up and readying herself to leave. "She's right, the girl needs to be allowed to rest. We'll pick this back up tomorrow."

Nate laid the axe down with a soft thud, putting both hands up in mock surrender then. "Just trying to get what's needed done." Lilly ignored him as she stepped over the outstretched and bare legs of both Kacey and Danika, the latter with a feather like touch on Emryn's shoulder.

"You girls make sure to keep watch on her. She won't, but see that she doesn't stop breathing or nothing." Lilly said, indicating she would be exiting shortly.

Kacey, finally wiping away the tears on her cheek lifted the chains connecting them all to Lacey. "And if she does?" She said, knowing well that the decision to postpone freedom meant if anything did go awry, they couldn't well go find her.

"Right, sure. Clem, come find me when you all check out and I'll come back to sit in for the night." Lilly said, though a flicker of her eyes in Nate's direction spoke that she would be waiting for he specifically to vacate the room.

Clementine nodded to the affirmative and watched Lilly go. Then Nate as he took to leaning against the frame of the bunk, unsure what to do with himself now his suggestion was off the table. She tried to placate him with more reasoning for holding off. "We've not exactly got the space in here, Nate. And it's been a long day. Surely you're tired too?"

"S'pose." He said, heaving up the slender shoulders under his thin, navy coloured jacket. Violet jumped in to take advantage of his half agreement.

"We can do it in the cafeteria. It's about the only place in here with enough room to swing a cat." She spoke like she was convincing a child and Clementines mind wandered to whether a teenaged Nate had ever done such a thing.

"Yeah." He said, bluntly. "I'll get off then." Clementine watched as he pulled the knife from his pocket again, flipping the blade out of its casing and setting it back on the bedside table where the candle lighting the room raced quickly to its end.

He patted the silver sarcastically and spoke directly to the girls now on the eve of freedom from one another. "The pointy end goes in the base of her skull if she starts gurgling at you during the night. I know she said it'll all be fine but with the shock and possibility of infection... well it could get dicey."

It was a comment that could have gone unsaid, and Clementine knew that Nate knew as much. She cleared her throat at his scaremongering. "Yeah, well, see you tomorrow Nate." She said, hopeful at first that he'd oblige. And then thankful when he did, disappearing off in the opposite direction to Lilly.

Clementine listened until she could no longer hear the mans footfall before she took up a spot on the now vacated bottom bunk. It was cold enough for her to want to pull the thin blanket on it up around her shoulders, but instead found herself laying it over the legs of Emryn, Kacey and Danika.

"Thank You" Emryn said, straightening her scarred legs again while the other two simply smiled at the gesture. It was a first from her lips for sure, and for draping a blanket over her of all things.

"No problem" Clementine replied, as she watched the candle drown almost completely into the puddle of its own waxy making. Violet, who had been ready to sit down beside her must have noticed too; as her shapely butt (even in unflattering jeans) rose back up.

"I'll track down another." She said, with a tired exhale. Clementine nodded and their lips met briefly, though Violet left only after thinking to check the bedside table drawer without success.

Clementine, feeling her spine ache more intensely now that she wasn't particularly distracted, lay on her side; ready to lose herself gorming at the slow but steady rise and fall of Lacey's chest until there was yet more dialogue.

"I wasn't thanking you for the blanket..." Emryn's rasp came again from the floor. "I mean, for that as well I guess" She tailed off, but her stare didn't break when Clementine looked into her eyes.

Her doll like features were recognisable again beneath her admittedly un-doll like pixie cut. The puffy lips and porcelain complexion, even the heart shaped jaw line she had seen snap rigid many times at a moments notice.

"Oh, er, okay. Well, after we shut him down he would've just been idling around anyway" Clementine said, having to guess what Emryn was thanking her for without any elaboration. Half a smile appeared on her face as Clementine failed to guess correctly.

"N-no. I'm talking about the axe." Emryn replied as Kacey and Danika listened on. Better late than never Clem thought to herself fleetingly, sitting back up as Violet re-entered with a marginally melted candle in hand.

"Well, you can thank AJ for that. He was the one who found it lodged in a tree we were about to turn back at." Clementine said, now passing on the praise. Emryn however seemed intent on shifting the backlog of recognition she'd let build up over the prior week.

And it was fine really. A better way to spend some of her last interactions with Clementine. Especially when the latter knew how obstinate Emryn had shown herself to be as recent as only half an hour ago.

"It's everything really." Emryn said, now looking away as she got to the meat of what she meant. She watched Violet use the dying flame to light the newer of the two candles. Then as she wet her finger and thumb to pinch the older one out.

"You've spent the better part of a week out there for me. Us-" She corrected herself. "Trying to keep your promise, then coming back to me, I guess being a bitch about it. I just want you to know that I have appreciated it." She paused. "I guess this is more a sorry as much as a thank you..."

Clementine could have asked why this was coming now. But she figured it was because Emryn knew she would be gone tomorrow and goodbyes often gave plenty reason to shed the burden of any ill-feeling between two people.

Still, she felt the sincerity in her gut as Violet sat down to rest an arm around her waist. It was a truth, even if it was a late one. "I'll happily take both." Clementine said, trying to add levity.

Emryn nodded, and allowed a proud Danika to position her head onto her legs so she could play with her hair, as if it could be anymore obvious that she was in a delicate place.

Clementine and Violet continued to sit in with the girls for a while longer. Nobody spoke but it wasn't an awkward silence. In fact it was like a valve on a pipe full of tension had been loosened considerably.

She watched the newer candle burn. It glowed brighter, felt warmer. And for some reason, after Emryn admission, so did Clementine. Because now she knew today had been worth getting up for.


	8. Chain Of Events - Part Eight: Degrees of Freedom

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to Chapter Eight, and the penultimate chapter of Episode One, which I have decided to tinker with the naming of Chapters for. It worked well last time so hence forth all prior parts of this Season will be retitled to add the name of each episode, this one being 'Chain of Events'.
> 
> This chapter is short by my regular standards but I believe this one needed its own space to breathe and was left on a natural note. Plus if I squeezed the rest of this episode into the chapter you wouldn't have seen it until Christmas. Ha.
> 
> So anyway, I'm rambling. Hope you enjoy it!

*

[](https://imgur.com/mzCIzU4)

Louis' lanky frame stood in the entrance to the cafeteria, his limbs made as wide as physically possible to block any further advancement from Clementine and the congregation behind her.

"I'm sorry, miss, but this space has been booked for the day." He said, thrusting forward something imaginary in his palm and continuing. "Now as you can see, I have all the relevant paper work and must insist you find somewhere else to carry out your deeds."

Clementine responded by simply giving him a look of contempt, and Louis, for all of his performance and theatrics would have done well to be thankful for that as Lilly and Nate would have already put him on his backside before now.

"Come on, Lou. It's far too early in my day to be tangling with you." She said as the four shackled companions waited behind her patiently. Clementine would have been much less so had they not discovered a wheelchair in the infirmary for Lacey-Mae to get around in until she was back to full strength.

"Tangling? Is that a threat? I'll have you know my assistant here graduated top of his class in both armed, and unarmed combat. He'll snap every one of your fingers like glow sticks and subdue you like a pretzel on my word. Tread carefully" Louis' countered.

AJ barely topped out at Louis' ribcage but he tried to look imposing anyway, puffing out his chest and crossing his arms. All he was missing was a pair of douchebag sunglasses. It was cute to see him playing along but they really did need to get on with freeing the girls.

"AJ, if you move I'll let you have a glass of alcohol all to yourself tonight at the party." Clementine said, fully intending to water it down to at best half of a thumbs strength. He didn't budge.

"Louis already promised me my own bottle" He said, causing Clementine to glare back at Louis like some kind of maddened Owl.

"What's that now? His own bottle!? Are you trying to poison my child, Louis!?" She said, raising her voice. He could be irresponsible, but surely not that dim. Louis winced at inadvertently being thrown under the bus.

"Now hold up, I- I said he could have his own bottle. Not what would be in it" He responded, bringing his hands away from their grip on the door frame to almost hush Clementine down.

"Hey!" AJ complained, miffed at either being tricked in the first place or having his bribe revoked due to some rather impressive backpedaling from the self appointed head of the party planning committee.

Louis only offered a regrettable shrug at his betrayal, causing AJ to step aside finally and join his adoptive mothers cause instead. "You just can't get the staff these days." Louis said, shaking his dreadlocks with feigned sadness.

Clem noticed they appeared much more well kept since the group had started up their tenure at The Greenbrier. In fact she hadn't seen them nearly this presentable since she and AJ's first week or two at Ericsons Boarding School.

"Seriously, Lou. We need to get past. Nate will be here in a minute and he'll walk over the top of you if you're not out of the way." She said, pressing him.

Louis dropped the facade momentarily to argue his case properly. "But I need to set up the party! It's going to take the whole day and I want you surprised when you walk in. Only me and my ex assistant are allowed to see before." He pouted, this seemed important to him.

"And why are you even so set on doing that in here anyway? It's an axe and this is a room full of wooden tables. Tables that'll be in half if you let Nate start swinging in here." He finished, though Clementine was left thinking his last remark was a little too exaggerated for reality. Or was it? She sighed.

"So where else would you suggest we do this?" She asked bluntly as the growing sound of steel on concrete began to meet their ears. Glancing to her right she saw Violet making her way up the hallway.

"And you better hurry. You know how it usually goes down between you two." Clementine added, nodding him onto Violets nearing presence.

"Well the logical answer here would be outside. In fact it should've been the first and only idea any of you had." He answered loftily. "I mean it's not like you've got eleven thousand acres to be working with, right?"

Sure, it had been a suggestion made in relative haste by Violet in order to help pacify a frustrated Nate, but now using the cafeteria was almost a neccessity. Clementine stepped back to highlight the currently wheelchair bound Lacey.

She sat peaky cheeked still from her ordeal the day before. Weak enough in fact that she'd only communicated with murmurs as Clementine had helped to re-dress her stump that morning, this time with actual gauze bandages, also found in the infirmary, though the place wasn't exactly well stocked.

Clementine would've found this strange considering nobody but Nate himself had managed to make it there in the previous near-decade had he not already disclosed the fact he'd been trading the supplies with another group for food.

"You really expect us to pull her all the way up those stairs? Because she isn't strong enough to get up there by herself right now." Kacey asked, putting Louis completely on the spot.

He cleared his throat and stuttered uncharacteristically as he addressed the wild haired ones concern. "N-no, course not. I- I mean I can carry her up there. That's no problem."

Clementine eyed him with confusion as Danika and Kacey pretended to swoon together. "Oh, our hero!" They said with a mutual sarcasm. A second or two of silence followed as Louis hesitated still inside the doorway.

"You wanna mush then, Mr. Universe?" Clementine teased some more. He obliged then, but only once he'd situated AJ back in position to guard the door. The solemn promise of the last remaining twinkie needed to get him there.

Louis had just about manouevred Lacey delicately up into his arms when Violet arrived at Clementines side with the axe in toe. She too took the opportunity to torment him - a welcomed change of pace as it was usually he needling her. "Wow, Lou, where are you taking her for the honeymoon?" She grinned.

Both Lacey-Mae and Louis flushed in the face with the latter managing to stick up a subtle middle finger as he turned to fulfill his end of the deal. Even Emryn gave up a smile at this. That was twice now in a twelve hour period. Clementine had to wonder just how long the newly found feature would last after leaving the walls of The Greenbrier later on.

After filling Violet in on the change of plan and then repeating herself for Nate's benefit (as they picked him up along the way), they all climbed the stairs behind the awkward ascent of Louis and the chained quartet.

The mild chill outside could be felt even as they passed through The Greenbrier itself, the many broken windows at fault for tipping them off. Not that it bothered Clementine any, the bunker was hardly a sauna despite being air tight.

Upon finding that rain had fallen during the night leaving the grounds somewhat marshy under foot the group decided to stay put on the raised balcony above the lower entrance. It was under cover and much more suited to the resistance needed to cut through chain anyway.

All four girls stood together up against the balcony to allow Lacey-Mae a little assistance in staying upright while the rest of those present either made their exit or planned positions.

Louis was the only one to leave, but not before drawing Clementine's attention with a request. "Hey, Clem, come find me after this is all done? I think I could use your help with something."

"Sure, Lou." She nodded, not putting any thought to what exactly he could need help with. She was too busy feeling the beginnings of nausea, almost as invested as the girls in seeing the reward her effort and search was close to bearing.

Louis smiled, giving well wishes to the girls before disappearing with no specific goodbye or words offered to Emryn in particular. Clementine didn't believe he had any real rooted hostility towards her, he just wanted harmony and Emryn had been standing in the way of that possibility since her arrival.

"So, how are we making this work?" Violet asked, as Nate made a move to take the axe away from her grasp. He swayed it slowly from side to side, taking his time trying to visualize the answer.

"I'm thinking the safest and surest way would be to lay them all down on their backs with the chains pulled as rigid as possible, you two could help with that at either end. Then there's honestly not much else to it but hit and hope." He said, a wry smile accompanying the added cavalier comment.

It would have been enough for Clem to put a stop to proceedings if she hadn't already seen him sever Laceys hand at the wrist with near precision less than twenty four hours ago, and this time around he had a little more room for error. She and Violet agreed, butterflies expanding in her stomach.

She couldn't have fathomed how the girls must be feeling if she herself could be so emotionally invested in their release, though upon moving to get their attention, she was given some sliver of just how much this did mean to them.

Each stood huddled together, waiting, glassy eyed and likely swimming through all of the painful memories of what they'd had to endure to make it here not only alive but sane. Memories of what they'd seen each other suffer.

Clementine didn't doubt that, in some cases a least was the harder thing to live with, she knew those kind of scars were certainly the reality for her. Vi cleared her throat softly, an attempt to nudge everybody back to the present.

"Are you all ready?" She asked delicately, stepping a little closer into their collective eyeline, though it took the breach of a tear from Emryn's eye for her to finally blink her way back again.

"I just can't believe this is actually happening." She said, wiping away the uninvited droplet of sadness from her cheek with her sleeve. Danika, red nosed from her own bout with emotion took issue with the comment.

"Hell no, Em." She started. "You never stopped believing. In fact it's the only thing that got us through. The one thing that had me quit sitting and just begging for someone to drop something near enough and sharp enough for me to stick in my neck. When I was only there Em, you dragged me through." Danika was almost pleading with Emryn to see it her way by the time she finished.

"Dan's right. You were the only one of us still fighting at the end there... we'd long given up hoping for- well for anything else but this." Kacey chipped in, lifting the short length of chain connecting her and Lacey-Mae. The latter had tears dripping off her chin like an untightened faucet.

Clementine thought back to the bridge and how defiant Emryn had been in being put to her knees even when the other three bowed to Alaric and his men with nothing but stockholm-like obedience. From her perspective, they were likely right about Emryn. But her response said she saw it differently.

"No. I lost hope. I stopped seeing a way out." Emryn admitted as another tear escaped, though this time Danika was on hand to thumb it away for her. "I just didn't give up my pride. Kitch and the rest, they were going to have to fight for that until the moment I died. And yes, some days I wished for that too."

Emryn claimed this last part regretfully, almost as if she carried a great guilt for even allowing herself to have such thoughts of checking out early.

"How or why you kept fighting doesn't change a thing, Emryn. Just seeing it kept us going. Don't think I don't know you took some of the beatings you did just so they'd lay off me." Lacey said, meekly. 

Danika took Emryn's face in her hands at this, gently pulling it close until their foreheads touched. "So you didn't fight for the reasons I thought you did. That just means you were the best freaking placebo we could have ever needed." She said.

The slight, natural gap between her lips parted then into a moving smile, one she held ardently until Emryn returned it, with the both of them devolving into a mutual happy, ugly cry soon after.

Clementine, Violet and even Nate waited on patiently as Kacey and Lacey-Mae joined in the moment, creating a final circle of solidarity for one another.

A few collective embraces later and the girls peeled away, ready now. "Sorry" Emryn said, her eyes red and raw from rubbing. Clementine shook her head though, denying it.

"You'll never have to apologise for anything like that. Not with us." She said, with little hope that it would perhaps sway her into staying. Kacey tried to build on the comment anyway.

"You should really stay with us, Em. One more night at least? You can give us that, can't you? We can party and drink, and just... be in each others company on our own terms for once." She said, grabbing Emryn's hands in her own.

Emryn appeared to wrestle with herself interally before replying. Struggling with what she wanted and what could happen if she didn't act on the fears she had of a return of The Homecoming. 

She'd been so unshakeable on her desired exit before now that her pause caused Clementine to double take the lack of an immediate refusal.

"One. Night." She said finally.

They were only two words, and yet they were enough to remove the bittersweet part of the coming act immediately. Even if it was just a delay, it clearly meant so much to the other three girls who nearly bowled Emryn over in clamoring to show their appreciation.

But Clementine didn't mind waiting that much longer, because by the time they let go of each other again, the atmosphere was stronger. The girls themselves much more ready.

They walked forward as one. Lay down on their backs as one. Spaced themselves out together, with Clementine and Violet on hand to help. Nate stepped up finally, his grip tight on the handle.

"Any last words in case I miss?" He asked, unable to resist the opportunity for an unsavory joke. Danika spoke, eyes trained on the arch above the balcony, having reached out automatically to grab Emryn and Kacey by the hand, with the latter taking Lacey's in kind.

"I just want each of you to know, that even after these chains come off of us, there will always be a thread running right from my body to each of you. No matter what. No matter how far we go, together or not. Nothing's ever going to break it. Not this one. It's forever."

"It's a thread that goes right back from each of us, Dani." Kacey said to solidify the sentiment. There was an echo of agreement from the other two...

And then there was Nate with the axe above his head between the waists of Emryn and Danika. A collective fear of failure. A forceful swing. A separation. And with it... Freedom.


	9. Chain Of Events - Part Nine: Pulleys, Planks and Prudence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Longest Chapter Yet! 6331 words I believe. Seemed to take an age to write. A lot of conversation to get through but also lots of clues and tip offs for heading into the next chapter and final part of Episode One that's been a long time coming.
> 
> I'm quite happy with this chapter and I hope anyone still reading will be too! Thanks ^.^ and happy holidays!

  
* 

While Louis had requested Clementine come find him posthaste after fulfilling her promise to the now freed girls, she hadn't quite expected the vanishing act that had apparently followed.

She'd checked all the admittedly limited places she could think of - the cafeteria, his room, (the former verified by AJ as he still guarded the doorway), but came away unsuccessful in locating him.

In fact Clementine had subsequently wandered deeper into the bunker than she thought should have been at all necessary, passing by just about every every set of dormitories on her way.

It was only when she'd hit a sharp right turn to frontiers as yet unexplored in the bunker by anyone besides Nate that she heard his moderately mild bark echo down the passage to where her faltered step had taken her.

"Hey, Kid!"

Clem, who had been more than ready to head back anyway, stopped and turned on her heel to spy Nate advancing on her position. She waited without offering a response, instead taking to wonder what age she'd need to reach before the likes of he and Lilly completely refrained from referring to her that way.

Though she allowed the thought to fall away upon realising that no matter how old AJ got, she would likely never stop referring to him as 'Kiddo'.

"What's got you peg legging yourself all the way down here?" Nate inquired, his tone becoming casual though as he came to within twenty feet of her, trucker hat rooted to his head much the same as Clementine wore hers.

It took her a few seconds to reply this time, not because she didn't understand the question, but rather why Nate was even taking an interest in the first place, especially to the point of following her down to get an answer.

"Well, I _was_ looking for Louis, but he's making it hard work.. why, whats it to you?" Clementine said, trying to sound unconfrontational.

Nate allowed his back to idle up against the wall as he gave her a wry smile, it was almost as if he didn't believe her. "Well unless he's as good at engineering as you must be seeing in the dark, he'll have no business being up here, trust me." He said, conveniently deciding to ignore the latter part of her question.

His comment had confused Clementine until she noticed that the candle in her hand would be burnt to its wick within the next few minutes, plunging both of them into darkness. Nate continued.

"Only things worth knowing about back here are the generator and rear entrance to this place. Entrance is as reinforced as the front door and well, like I said the generator crapped out weeks ago."

"About that, have you had a look at it?" Clementine asked, thinking ahead about their stockpile of candles and the rate at which they'd been literally burning through them. In a matter of days they would be living like the blind, if there were any left of course.

"I'm not an engineer either. All I know is that one day I was getting ready to head out for a trade and then-" He snapped his fingers. "Lights out. No warning."

"Well we'll need to figure something or this place will be unliveable in the next few days. I know Lilly used to be in the military... maybe she'll know her way around it." Clementine mused, knowing she was grasping at straws.

Even with the slim possibility that Lilly had been an engineer, her expertise would have likely been limited to fixing up aircraft and Clementine wasn't sure how much RAF planes and back up generators overlapped.

Nate pushed himself back up off the stone wall, speaking again as if he hadn't listened to a word Clementine had just said. "Last I saw a few minutes ago, Louis was getting cozy with one of the twins, but don't ask me which cause I have no fucking clue how to tell them apart."

"Cozy?" Clementine repeated with surprise at his use of the word.

"Yeah, cozy. I mean, I didn't see them but I heard enough. The girl was all, 'don't let my sister find out we've been doing this together' and he was like 'don't worry, she won't find out' you know, our secret kind of shit. I figure the other twins his ex and he's banging her now on the DL." 

Nate had seemed quite pleased with his theory until Clementine laughed it off the table. "One of the twins is gay. Louis might be lucky enough to get Sophie, but Minnie _is_ never and _has_ never happened." Nate looked as if he felt silly.

"Jeez, how many of you are there down here?" He said, with Clementine unsure if the question was sarcastic or genuinely in need of being answered. She wasn't exactly sure herself, but filed the idea for a truth or dare question away for later that night at the party.

"I'm not gay." Clementine corrected him again. "I just found the perfect girl before I found the perfect guy."

She watched then as Nate pretended to stick his fingers down his throat, gagging like a teenaged boy seeing his parents kiss. "I think you just gave me diabetes." He complained, before reaching forward swiftly and pinching out the near dead flame; the sound of his footsteps the only indication she had afterward that he'd began to walk away.

Clementine stood alone in the pitch darkness for a moment, trying to make some sense of the interaction she'd just had. That was until she realised that between the tornado, Louis' throwing a party for abstaining coffee, and now he and Sophie apparently seeing each other in secret, not much did these days.

She dropped the candle where she stood, and began to limp her way back, watching Nate as he passed the next nearest flame throbbing a considerable distance away. Thankfully, he left that one on.

*

So much for a well earned day of rest, Clementine thought, ruefully.

Her search for Sophie had so far seen about as much success as her search for Louis and she was starting to feel her afternoon plans to lounge around with Violet until the party slipping away.

Hell, maybe Nate was right and the two _were_ getting it on together some place there was no chance they could possibly be disturbed.

In fact Clementine was happy enough to retire on that assumption when she remembered Sophie had been spending much of her days sitting at Tenns grave ever since his untimely and senseless death at the hands of Ryan.

The only problem with this realisation was the daunting prospect of also having to run into Minnie. Clementine knew a confrontation over her treatment of AJ was inevitable but she'd hoped to put it off until at least tomorrow.

She lolled her head around one full rotation, exiting the bunker and cursing herself for always feeling the need to be at everyones beck and call. It was a fleeting thought however, as she cursed herself again for being so selfish.

Compared to the likes of Lee, and Luke, Christa and Omid, Kenny (the list went on), who quite literally gave their lives for her, she had done nothing approaching the need to feel aggrieved.

Violet was right, it _was_ always her. But maybe she ought to be grateful she was even alive to feel indebted in the first place. That was one quality Clementine would never bemoan - her uncanny ability to check herself relatively quickly when her resolve started to shake.

Besides both the odd and extremely rare breakdown over those same lost companions that is.

Clementine started to drift her way through the once clearly hallowed halls of The Greenbrier, keeping her wits about her as she did so. The only down side to the place being so gargantuan was that a sizeable group could move in overnight and they would be non the wiser.

The bunker was keeping them safe and invisible, and yet at the same time also prevented from seeing potential threats until they were on top of them, quite literally. Whether aimlessly wandering walkers or The Homecoming back to avenge their deservedly slain splinter group once led by Alaric.

Passing by each room she bobbed her head inside to be met time and again with furniture and decor in ruin; a clear team effort at the hands of both past looters and mother nature. Broken windows had allowed for all manner of harsh weather to penetrate the walls throughout the years with severe damp and mold, with even mushrooms growing up in clusters through the besoiled carpets.

Some spaces had kicked through holes in the surprisingly thin ceilings above while the tables and chairs in the more open areas stood buckled on their legs if indeed they had enough left to do so at all.

One of the more strange constants she did come across was that practically all the chandeliers in the place had come away from their fittings, now sitting long crashed at her feet and forcing her to skirt around on her cut through to the rear grounds of the main building.

At one point close to her destination Clementine even had to hurdle a pair of big floral covered sofas that had been tipped up side by side, the innerds from one of the cushions on display due to a couple of bullet sized holes in it.

Even without the pool of dried blood stains smearing off what she imagined to have been a once lush green carpet, it was easily deducible to Clementine that there had been a fatal skirmish here.

She'd never be able tell with complete certainty how long ago it had taken place but from the amount of other bullet holes dotted around the surrounding fixtures she figured it couldn't have been _too_ long after the outbreak. Surely nobody had the bullets to waste so readily these days.

Clementine continued, leaving the scene at her immediate back, moving from the carpeted floor to one of checkered marble; much like a giant chess board if the diamonds had been squares.

There wasn't much inside the room besides a black grand piano, its surface covered in layers of dust and two large vases that had been knocked over, a mixture of bone china shards and soil having off-shot across the floor.

Light streamed in through three bay doors, one of which stood wide open, a chilly breeze pushing against the thin, tattered curtains flanking it. She could already hear two voices outside as she approached the balcony hesitantly.

"I don't even care anymore. I mean, obviously I do, I've been sitting out here all fucking week because of it. But if I want to get tanked till I can't feel this no more. I will." Clementine listened to Minnies instantly recognisable rasp from below.

She leaned, light-footed over the balcony to see the red haired twins sitting together cross legged on the ground, Tenns grave just out of her view. It was the first time Clem had laid eyes on them properly since the day they had arrived. She hadn't even so much as passed either when coming in and out of the bunkers many rooms.

"I know you care, Min. And I'm not saying you should keep avoiding them like you have either. I just don't think that you two should be in the same room while you're like that... not until you've hashed it out at least." Sophies much softer tone came as Clementines stomach dropped a little. She hadn't accounted for Minnie's presence at the party later on tonight.

And what did Sophie mean by hash it out? And with who? If Minnie got drunk and aggressive with AJ, Clem would be forced to drop her like a bad transmission.

"Like what!?" Minnie fired, indignant at the initially vague accusation.

"You're a mean drunk." Sophie said, clearing up her indirectness.

Minnie scoffed, although her reply half accepted the indictment anyway. "I'm not mean, I just, I don't know. I have a forceful personality. You'll just have to help me keep in control of my graceful side."

This time it was Sophies turn to scoff at her sister. "You, graceful? I think you're missing a prefix there, Min." She said, jokingly. Minnie responded with shock, like she'd been physically wounded by such a comment.

"Bitch!" She complained. Clem wouldn't go so far as to say Minnie _couldn't_ be graceful though she was yet to see it, but at the same time thought Minnie's self description of 'forceful personality' was low balling her aggressive tendencies.

"The last time you got wasted you started a discussion on the ethics of Twincest..." Sophie replied, bluntly proving her point in her mind. It was funny to see her so comfortable speaking it around her sister when she was normally so quiet around the rest of the group.

Minnie had started to protest something along the lines of standing by her prior comments in the cavern when the piano back inside groaned suddenly from the deeper end of its keys, spooking Clementine for a second.

She retreated back inside quickly before the twins could stand up to see her having been prying on their conversation, then closing the open bay doors as swifly and silently as she could. Clementine listened, her ear to the door until Minnie picked back up from where she'd paused.

Then she snapped her neck to the right, eyeing the apparently phantom piano. It stood in the corner, facing out into the room, it's lid popped and propped. It was alone. Or at least it had seemed to be the case until Clementine edged her way around enough to find Louis laying on his back along the length of the piano's bench. Clementine wasn't sure how long he'd been there but he appeared non the wiser to her presence.

"What the hell, Louis!" She announced loudly, giving him a start similar to the one his plonking on the keys had given her. He swivelled around, confused at what exactly he'd done wrong.

In truth, Clementine had a few things waiting on the end of her tongue.

"Where have you been!?" She started, exasperated. Louis thought the answer should have been obvious.

"Uh, sitting here waiting for you. What took you so long?" He asked, clearly believing the fault to have been on her end. She tried to keep her cool.

"Oh, is that all." Clementine responded skeptically. If he wanted to keep whatever he and Sophie had a secret, that was fine. It was their perogative. But she still couldn't help the dig after feeling like he'd been giving her the run around. "You didn't think to wait for me some place a little more obvious?"

"Why would I do that when I need you here? Besides, what's more obvious than me sitting at a piano?" He smiled, trying to ease her irritation, knowing it was his power move and that it seldom failed. This time was no different..

"You suck." Clementine said, feeling every inch her stunted height as Louis managed to still meet it despite being sat down. His button neck top was undone even in the dropping temperatures that came with a fast approaching winter.

"You'll take that back later" he replied confidently. "I've really outdone myself. You'll see!" Clem couldn't really think of many ways the party could be as great as he was suggesting but it was hard not to be intrigued even if her enthusiasm for it had faltered a little knowing Minnie would be there. Clementine just hoped she could be mature enough to not ruin the atmosphere. Then again Minnie had in the past shown an inability to do so sober, nevermind intoxicated.

"I'm pumped that you're pumped. Now what am I here for, Lou?" She asked, torn between enjoying her time with him and wanting to get back to Violet for at least a couple of hours before her presence was required again later.

He beamed, pushing the bench back and standing as he stroked the piano.

"I want- no, _need_ this baby moving into the bunker. And I know I said I wanted to keep every bit of tonight a surprise, but you're about the only person here I trust to help me get it there in one piece."

Clementine successfully resisted an urge to ask if his girlfriend couldn't do so instead with her reply. "Well, what about your assistant?" She posed.

"My rehired assistant is unavailable on account of him continuing to guard the event entrance. Besides, this gives us a chance to catch up. We've not really had any quality time since-"

"Since running for our lives from The Homecoming?" Clementine interjected, the wounds from one such altercation likely forever hampering her walk.

"Pretty sure I carried you some of that way, but yes, and my point still stands. I could have asked one of the others but frankly, you also give up the least resistance." He said. Clementine wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing.

She looked down then at the base of the piano's legs and breathed a somewhat muted sigh of relief. "Well at least its on wheels. Whats your plan for getting it down those stairs though?"

"Pulleys, planks and extreme prudence! Seriously, if this becomes a runaway or smashes into pieces at the bottom of the stairs my heart will end up right there next to it..." Louis threatened, hugging the piano now. An act that almost made Clementine feel uncomfortable.

"Okay first, let's lay off the public display of affection shall we?" She motioned for him to stop cuddling the inanimate object before carrying on "And if your plan is to lower it down, we're going to need more than just you and me." She informed.

Clementine wasn't sure how heavy the piano was but did worry her leg wouldn't have the strength to resist its gravity pulling her face first down the stairs too without more reinforcement.

"Fair point. But it'll only take the two of us the wheel it there. We can grab Tool later." Louis said, referring to Nate. He'd nicknamed him that because, as quoted 'he's both useful and a douche.'

"You have ropes?" Clementine asked, knowing that like most things the chance was quite slim. Louis stepped over to the bay doors and grabbed two fistfuls of curtain, ripping it down at speed. Clementine winced, fully expecting the rail to come down with it, but no clang followed.

"I have drapes!" He said, launching the shabby mass of material onto the piano in a heap that left the both of them choking on a cloud of dust for a good minute.

Following a glare from Clementine he repeated the process with another set of curtains, this time making sure to be more conservative in his attempt.

"And planks? What are you going to tie them to the wheels with?" She asked, her throat scratchy from the dust assault. Louis paused, it was apparent he hadn't thought that far. Clementine closed her eyes, realising the move could end up taking all afternoon if she didn't take the reigns of the operation.

She sat down on the floor, trying to visualize a better plan of action; Louis joining her in taking a seat. After a few minutes, she took a stab at it.

"Lifting this thing onto planks, or a door and expecting it to just slide down as one isn't going to work. Not even with pulleys. We need to cage it somehow." She paused, trying and failing to think of what could successfully do so in the moment, so she moved on until it came to her.

"And honestly, we're going to struggle tying those together" She said, pointing at the weighty curtains. "We're going to need something lighter, and a whole lot more of them to lower it down that far."

Clem fell quiet again, her brain already starting to hurt trying to figure out a way past all the obstacles of such an arduous desire and it left her feeling like asking Louis if it would truly be worth the effort, but she knew his answer would a Yes before she could blink.

She looked at him then, he watching and listening to her intently. Waiting patiently. It reminded her again how much Louis appeared to need this, though it did leave her wondering what other noise he was trying to keep off his brain.

Clementine went on. "Which ever way I look at this, we're going to need more bodies. So while I know you wanted some quality time, it's going to have to wait until tonight, Lou." He put on an overexaggerated pout in response.

"Fine. But I want some serious one to one with you when the time comes." He said, beckoning her into a pinky swear. Clem leaned forward and accepted, as both an idea and Sarah's corpse flashed violently to mind. She pushed the latter back into the shadows quickly.

"It's a deal. Now go get me those extra bodies. I think I have an alternative to using these" She said, standing up again and pushing the curtains off the pianos surface to the ground with a dull thud.

Louis nodded and darted off toward his destination, leaving Clementine to collect what she thought could make the plan work successfully.

*

By the time Louis returned with a posse in toe (thankfully lacking a one handed Lacey and the badly bruised shoulder of Emryn), Clementine had managed to amass a quite large pile of bedsheets that stood taller than any of them.

She'd climbed multiple stairs, walked as many halls, and then entered in and out of ten times as many guest rooms before coming across a storage / laundry room full of them all in one place.

They'd yellowed in patches but seemed to be sturdy enough to hold once the likes of Violet, Danika and Kacey had knotted them tightly together. A total of eighty bedsheets all told.

Unfortunately Clementine still hadn't yet come up with a viable way to cage in the piano for when it made its deep descent into the bunker. This honour would go to Nate instead. But only after the group had started to maneuvre their way through the most open spaces of the main floor.

Louis and Clem pushed the instrument around corners and under arches with relative ease despite the estimated 900 pound weight while the rest cleared the way ahead, edging the floral couches aside, dragging chandelier frames out of the way and otherwise kicking glass shards and debris out of the path.

It was in moving a rather huge banquet table that Nate had his apparently workable idea. "Hold up" he said, having been watching the girls do the heavy lifting.

He stepped forward and edged his hand along the underside of the table as every body else took a minutes breather. "This could work" he declared after a moment or two more of repositioning his hat.

"How do you make that?" Violet asked, leaning herself against the piano, her voice seemed a little tired to Clementine even though they hadn't so far done all that much compared to days past.

Nate heaved the table onto its back solo, even in his advancing years and some what wiry frame. Clementine figured its weight was akin to lifting up Lacey-Mae, Kacey, Danika and Emryn all at once.

He pointed to the under frame. "If we can get the piano over this lip here, and sitting inside, then at the top of the stairs, we can wrap these sheets up and around the table legs. They can act as the harness while we use the excess to lower it down to the floor." It took Clementine and the others a few seconds to visualize the plan, but soon after they agreed.

And while Nate could lift the table on his own, he couldn't push it to where it needed to be without assistance, Louis having to leave Clementine to help as he was the next strongest of the bunch.

"I tell ya kid, I better be hearing a little Styx later for my troubles." Nate huffed, both he and Louis struggling their way around the corner as Clementine held back to give them enough of a start.

"Oh, that's easy, I'm a veteran chopsticks player!" Louis responded, managing to get his wires crossed. The two were out of ear shot before Nate could reply with much more than a sigh.

A few minutes of idling around passed by before Clementine started things moving again. "Do you wanna help me push?" She asked, trying for Violets attention. She'd been staring around at the floor.

Violet trudged her way over to fill Louis' position as Clementine began rolling the piano along again. "Are you okay?" She asked, feeling the melancholy radiating from her as they made ground.

"Yeah, sorry. I'm just feeling under the weather is all." Violet responded.

Clementine could tell it was a lie, but she didn't push the matter with Danika and Kacey close by. Violet had been perfectly fine earlier and if she was ill, then 'under the weather' would never be how Violet would describe it.

"Okay. Will you be alright for the party?" She asked, trying to gage how bad the thing really bothering her was. Vi gave a silent nod and forced smile.

They travelled the rest of the way without conversation. But Clem didn't frett too much. Whenever Violet was off because of she herself, and she seldom was, Violet would show irritability, and not passive despondency. Clementine would pull it out of her once they were alone. 

The piano pushers caught Nate and Louis at the entrance to the bunker after a good while winding their way there. The steel door had been swung open and the table had been positioned to teeter over the edge of the top most step.

Louis, seeing the look of trepidation on the faces of the girls in particular, felt the need to try and coax them back onside with a few words, sweat shining on his forehead from the manual labor.

"It's _will_ be worth it, guys. I swear. And if you're still having trouble, just think of it like we're saving a piece of history here. I mean, who knows how endangered these are!" He attempted to rally, circling the piano. Nate laughed.

"Probably not nearly as endangered as we are. Now lets get it done. I got a whole lot of nothing to be catching up on." He protested. Nate often acted this way. Trying to rush most interactions, like he didn't want to be there. And yet, when asked, he always was.

Louis made a show of crossing his heart and looking up to the heavens before setting about following Nate's lead; both moving the piano until it was right up against the upended table.

"Now, very carefully, we tip it up on its side." Nate directed. It was an instruction that left Louis catching a sharp intake of breath. Clementine and the rest of the gathering positioned themselves on the other side of the piano to keep it from toppling over onto its back.

Two very manly and prolonged exhales followed as Louis and Nate strained to lift the nearly thousand lb piano to where it needed to be; four almost as equally strong cries taking over from the other side as in a moment of panic the piano looked to have too much momentum.

Thankfully, they were able to steady the weight before disaster. "Close call" Kacey said, taking a step back and sticking her hand up under her overly long shirt with out worry for her modesty.

Clementine watched as she scratched away at the sores caused by the rubbing of the shackle that still unfortunately remained around her waist. The axe had managed to separate the four to move freely from one another but a pair of the infuriatingly elusive bolt cutters were still needed to finish the job completely.

Once Kacey had satiated her itch and the piano had been defiantly dragged over and safely into the surrounding lip of the banquet table (with Violet on the other side to keep said table from sliding), they collectively set about completing the penultimate task before them.

Taking each set of the knotted bedsheets, about four lengths of twenty each, and essentially looping them right round the perimiter of the collective table legs. A task made all the more difficult due to the table having to overhang the staircase, forcing them to dip down each time they lapped around it.

Nate inspected the border once the rest had encased the table, and by extension, the piano as much as they could while still leaving enough sheets to ensure they could lower it down at their speed.

"We've got a fighting chance." He said finally, his familiar smirk and crazy eye combination given to Louis when he appeared to have expected a more sure assessment. Nate then seemed to begin making his exit, panicking all of them further in unison.

"Where are you going!?" Danika called after him. He ignored the question until only his head could be seen above the summit step. Until he felt he had built up enough fear in everyone present.

"Calm your bee stings. I'm going to have to be at this end on the way down to take some of the weight off you guys. That is unless Strong Arms over here thinks he can take it." Nate said, highlighting Louis, who inspected his biceps for a moment before declining the invitation.

"Figures." Nate replied. "Not willing to die for the music. You never would have made it, Kid." He added, spitefully.

"Oh yeah? And what did you do before the dead woke up?" Clementine asked, coming to Louis' defence.

"Well, before my long distance trucking days, I was a roadie for a time actually, so still much closer than he would have gotten." Nate said proudly.

"How tragic." Clementine said, it wasn't the job itself, but rather his attempt to use it to belittle another. Violet interrupted to put out the growing tension.

"Can we just get on with this already." She asked, lazily; a temporary truce being made non verbally afterward as everyone got into their required positions for the final test that would either see success, or Nate flatter than a piece of paper.

"Alright, this is going to be tricky, but it needs to be done with absolute precision." Nate explained from his lower place on the stairs. "You're going to push, _slowly_. Then, the very second you feel the piano tip up on your end, you're going to pull, hard as you possibly can."

"Then what?" Danika asked. Nate continued to be quite stern with his instructions.

"Then we continue. On. My. Call. I don't want to hear anybody else speak until we're finished. Nobody mishearing and letting the sheets slack when I'm not ready or nothing. Hear me?"

Clementine wondered if everbody else was as tempted as she to do exactly that, tightening her grip on her knot as if to subconciously tell herself no.

Nate gave the signal. And together they began to heave with their shoulders, the table and piano barely even seeming to move. The sound of it screaching along the concrete glacially the only indication that it in fact was.

"Careful. Careful. Stop!!" Nate bellowed. "One more shove and this will go. Now, everybody but Louis, wrap your sheet around those wrists. Hold onto it like its your last breath. Louis, one big push by yourself. Then be a track star and get your ass back to your length and do the same. On my call." He waited for three or so seconds before counting it back.

"3. 2. 1. Go!"

It all happened in the blink of an eye, it had to. Louis pushed, and the rest pulled; Clementine making a concious effort to get as low to the ground as possible while staying on her feet, attempting to dig both heels into the ground.

The act failed to stop Clementine from feeling like her arms were going to be pulled from their sockets initially, but with a roar from deep and a quite rare resolve, they remained intact.

She kept her eyes closed and held her position until she could feel the friction burn on her wrists alleviate a little as Louis joined in the backwards resistance; listening for Nates call as Kacey could already be heard panting like she was in the early stages of labour.

Nate gave the go ahead again to lax her grip ever so slightly and Clementine knew her eyes needed to be open for this as she would have to creep her way down each step while standing almost horizontally.

When she finally dared to, she was met by the true convolutedness of their plan in action. The piano and table both sitting at a perilously steep and diagonal angle with only a few bed sheets, and five very undernourished teenagers to guide it down without fatalaties.

She strained to hear through the noises of struggle and pain as the piano slowly inched its way down the stairs, the muscles in her own arms starting to burn to the point she herself wanted to indescipherably curse.

"We're.... coming to a..... half. Landing! Rest! Here." Nate puffed, taking the brunt of the weight on his side. Kacey let go a little too early at this call and Clementine and the others were almost thrown into the piano face first as a result while Nate swore through shortness of breath.

"What the fuck! Hold until you hit the break, damnit!!" He shouted while Kacey murmured something under her breath about jelly arms. "Christ! Louis, get this side before we go again. I'm not dying on this hill. Or half way down it."

A short lived protest from Danika and Kacey followed but Nate argued back until his say was final. "You'll manage! You're only acting as breaks anyway. We're taking the actual weight."

When they finally picked up again where they'd left off, Clementine found the rest of the way to be no less of a struggle. And adding to the strain and burning muscles, she began to feel a shock of pain in her knee two thirds of the way down.

A re-aggrevation of the injury she'd sustained jumping off a desk in the strip mall to save AJ from having to take himself out before the walkers descended upon him.

'Great' she thought to herself. As if the limp wasn't enough damage to endure. She was starting to wonder how long before it became the death of her. How long before she would need crutches to even just get around.

Clementine gritted her teeth through every shock, on every step down, counting on Nate and Louis to let them know when the structure was close enough to the ground that they could let go without it suffering any damage.

That was until she was given no choice in the matter only a few minutes later, feeling the piano suddenly slip violently forward despite non of their number apparently allowing it to do so.

A scream from near everyone followed instinctively as all five of them were thrown forward harshly. Clementine crashing into the piano as it did so itself into the floor of the bunker.

She groaned until she regained her sense of awareness, hearing movement below from someone she eventually identified as Violet, she clearly having toppled down the side during the incident.

"Are you okay, Vi!?" Clementine called out, concerned as Danika and Kacey untangled themselves from each other a few steps above her.

"Oh, just aces!" She replied, sarcastically, though it was hard to hear her over Louis going off, infuriated at something Nate had done. Clementine cracked her back upright and peered around the piano to see Louis' back and Nate laughing.

"Where the fuck do you get off!?" Louis shouted, his arms animated.

"Well I got off about five steps up!" Nate joked before continuing with a little more seriousness. "Come on, it's in one piece isn't it?" He said, nothing done to calm Louis down. It was a rare sight to see him in any state but happy-go-lucky.

"It could have crushed me!" He shouted, as Nate affected a holding stare.

" _Everybody gotta die sometime, Red._ " He said, in an accent that wasn't entirely his own. Louis spoke his own defence this time, voicing the words that Clementine herself was thinking.

"Different story when you had your scare further up." He said, pushing back his dreadlocks stressfully. Nate shrugged his shoulders as they met an impass.

"Well, you got your precious piano. Call me back when you're done crying." Nate said, nodding his exit and turning around to walk off down the hall.

Clementine and the rest stood watching dumfounded where they were as Nate broke into tone-deaf song, complete with all the arm movements of a conductor leading an orchestra.

_"I'm sailing away  
Set an open course for the virgin sea  
On board I'm the captain, so climb aboard  
We'll search for tomorrow on every shore"_

He stopped to hum the tune and mumble his way through the next verse, likely unable to recall the lyrics of whatever he was singing. He picked back up.

_"A gathering of angels  
Appeared above my head!  
They sang to me this song  
And this is what they said"_

Another pause that Clementine would have preferred to go on indefinitely by the time he finally bellowed again.

_"They said.....  
Come sail away!  
Come sail away!  
Come sail away with meeeeee!"_

Nate held the note for a long time, until mercifully, he was gone.


	10. Chain Of Events - Part Ten (A): Pretty For The Party.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So it's been a long ass while. But I think I've made up for my absence over the holidays with an absolute mega length chapter, clocking in at over 9,000 words. I hope you enjoy this little slice of life kinda thing I've written. Happy New Year everybody!

*

[](http://i.imgur.com/VbdQY63)

"Are we good to go yet?" Clementine asked as she sat on the mattress redressing her thigh once more. Her wounds had almost healed over completely at this point but she didn't want to risk the friction of her jeans making them weep again.

Violet arched her back out of the doorway in response so she could squint down to the cafeteria Louis had insisted everyone now hence forth refer to as '720 Deep' The newly christened name of his makeshift party venue; derived from a plaque on the wall at the bottom of the bunker stairs.

She shook her head after coming back to a vertical stance. "Lights still out" She replied, referring to Louis' idea to use their flashlight as a means to show when they could make their way down. It'd stood delluminated for hours now.

"Well I hope he knows I'm making a bee line for the buffet table the second it goes on." Clementine huffed. It had been another day of neglecting the needs of her stomach until it started panging to the point of near nausea. "Can you pass me my jeans?" She added, tucking in the end of her gauze bandaging.

Violet nodded, first bending to retrieve the crumpled item of clothing and then holding it out for Clementine to take as she came close enough. The blonde affected a smile in doing so, but it was clear she was still a little pensive.

Clementine reached forward, stretching beyond her jeans to grasp Violet at the wrists, a small tug indicating she wanted to be joined down at her level. Violet complied, coming to kneel at the edge of the mattress the couple had made love on for the first time only two nights ago.

"Do you want to tell me what's going on up in there? Because I know you're not sick." Clem asked, pushing the sweeping bangs off her forehead.

Violet tried to deny her coaxing at first, shrugging her shoulders. "Not really, I was just having a moment. That's all" she replied, the fabricated smile making another appearance on her lips.

Clem refused to be deterred however, she never wanted that kind of feigned response to become even halfway to a habit between them.

"A moment you've been stuck in for a good few hours now..." She pressed, somehow remaining warm and gentle where anyone else would only sound cold, and impatient.

Violet managed to offer up a muted but much more authentic smile this time, though it did take Clementine clamping her feet to her waist and rubbing the balls of her ankles back and forth along either side to further cajole an actual explanation from her.

"It's so stupid though." She complained, averting eye contact and even sounding almost embarassed as she went on. "I just got a little bummed out by the mess up there, okay? It's no biggie." She protested, and yet not nearly enough to properly convince Clementine.

"The mess? Come on Vi, the only reason our room stays this clean is because you don't own enough anymore to make it messy." She joked, disbelievingly, an act that had Violet returning her gaze.

"Oh, really? And how would you know? You never saw my room while we were at Ericsons." She countered, confident in her assertion and yet still clearly surprised at the claim her girlfriend had made. She flicked the peak of Clems hat playfully then until it fell off her head, incorrectly thinking she had the high ground.

It was a true enough assertion so far as Violet herself knew, Clementine had never actually been inside, but she'd sure seen enough through the sliver of her open door to feel decisive in her denouncement.

"I did actually. The same night you stood up for me against Marlon when everyone else was ready to end me? Well after, I left the dorm to come and say thank you... your room wasn't hard to find what with your name carved into the door. Anyway you didn't answer so-" Violet jumped the gun here, pretending to be exhasperated before Clementine could finish.

"So you thought you'd just go snooping in my room, huh!?" She accused, prodding her finger softly into her chest, a show of mock intimidation. Clementine allowed the force to push her flat on the bed, but with a sharp flick of her heels, Vi found herself coming down on top. Close enough for Clementine to steal a nose kiss before enlightening her with the truth.

"Wrong." She denied, honestly. "I just left, but the door was open enough that I saw inside anyway. And you know what? Total mess." She teased, enjoying not only the resulting protest, but the feeling of their chests automatically shifting to both rise and fall together in tandem.

Clementine knew she was going the long way around to ease Violet into giving the true answers to her original question, but that was okay, because she was perking up, and without even realising it.

"Bullshit" Violet called, light-heartedly. "And I didn't answer because I was out digging that shitheads grave all night. I would have answered to you."

Clementine felt herself glow. Even back then she was unknowingly finding her way past Violets initially distant and cold exterior. She left her appreciation for the comment aside in favour of further ribbing though.

"Well that's good to know. At the time I figured you'd just drowned in all the piles of clothes and art supplies." She said, all the while having to purse her lips to keep herself from laughing. She had a long way to go before she was as good as Louis at winding Violet up with a straight face.

"Fuck you" Violet responded predictably, smiling and prodding their noses together until both eventually went cross eyed.

In hindsight, and despite her initial need to know Vi's troubled mind, Clementine was left wishing she'd have just wrapped her exposed thighs tightly around Violets hips, telling her to do so right there and then, as it would have at least prevented the rest of her sentence from puncturing their pullulating positivity.

"My clothes were only on the floor like that because we ended up having to burn my freaking wardrobe to try keeping our selves warm one winter. And the art supplies are just what you get sharing a room with Tenn-" 

Violet cut herself short, falling silent and losing the peace she'd been finding. Her minds horizon clouding again as quickly as Clementine had been working to clear it. She pulled back from their proximity to sit within herself, and Clem scooted off the bed to sit beside her.

She struggled to know what to say at first. His death hadn't come up between them any before now and, rather guiltily, Clem hadn't even stopped to think how it could have affected her as much as it had done AJ and Tennesee's own sisters.

"I'm sorry that we lost him. I know you basically looked after him while they were gone" She offered solemnly, knowing herself how attached one could get to a child that wasn't biologically theirs.

It felt like minutes passed before a reply came her way. "It's not even that though." Violet claimed gloomily, hair blocking the side profile of her face, though when she shifted slightly, Clementine could see there were no tears. Yet. "I mean we're all fucked anyway, right? I just- it makes me sick that he went out to that psycho."

She paused again, appearing to either lose or search for the confidence to voice her next comment, which Clementine herself tried to both anticipate and intercept.

"Vi, not one of us saw that coming." She pleaded by her side, praying that Violet had not laid the guilt for Tenn's death at her own doorstep for even a second.

"But I pushed for it. Hard. And it was so fucking stupid of me." Violet balled a fist up at this and pushed the thenar of her hand forcefully against her skull.

Sensing more, Clementine got quietly to her feet and moved to close their door just in case Minnie and Sophie (the only two with living quarters further down the hall than they) passed by. Noting in doing so that the flashlight down the hall had now been illuminated.

She decided to keep the information to herself as the door clicked shut, hoping they would not be disturbed before she was able to stabilize Violets state of unrest. Clementine returned to her, she the one now on her knees.

"You were just trying to give someone a chance, Vi. Trying to care." She consoled, reaching forward to delicately pull away the fist Violet had kept pressed against her forehead. She relented, but gave an unsettling laugh prior to her response.

"And that was the mistake." She started, features scrunched up in pain and regret, her fist remained balled while Clem held it between her hands massaging over each individual knuckle.

"You care for me..." She prompted, trying to remind Violet of the overwhelming good that had been born from her letting Clementine in. Though it didn't do much to resolve her issues in the moment.

"You were a one in a million take away, Clementine. And pretty much everyone we've met since has just proved that to me. I mean, Delta and The Homecoming, they were bad enough but after Ryan, we can't even risk letting one fucking stranger into the group, now. Even Nate barely has me sleeping."

Violet stopped, breathing in deeply and holding the air inside her lungs until she had no choice but to expel it again while Clementine tried to find an appropriate response. She didn't share Vi's troubles, not to such a raw extent at least.

Because while Clementine too could be overly cautious when it came to screening other survivors, she'd also learned from extensive experience that invariably, the good over time at least, balanced out the bad. It was just impossible to convince someone of this when they'd seen such a barrage of inhumanity in as quick a succession as Violet had.

"I'm sorry. I know tonight is supposed to not be depressing. I just can't stop feeling like she's completely fucked everything for me again." She said, relaxing her face slightly to look Clementine back in the eyes now. She still hadn't got to the point of tears. Neither sad nor angry.

Perhaps it was because death had been with her in a non walker world from a young age. Clementine hadn't met many others her age who'd been touched by it on both sides of the apocalypse.

"What do you mean by 'everything'?" Clementine asked, her uncovered legs starting to get cold now. Violet back tracked slightly here.

"Not everything" she said quickly to absolve Clementines insecurity. "It's just that, I've never been much of a people person anyway you know... but after Min died- uh, disappeared, I just completely shut off. Like I wanted no part of anyone. New or old. For the longest time."

Violet managed to magnify her already fixed stare on Clementine then before continuing on with her line of thought.  
"And then you, almost literally crashed into my existence and I had all these fucking feelings again."

"You mean those icky ones, like empathy and compassion?" Clementine proposed, somewhat sarcastically before Vi actually agreed quite seriously, even adding her own for good measure.

"Yeah. Those. And love." She said, having to catch herself immediately to reassure Clementine again. "Don't worry, it's wild horses with us, Clem." She sounded quite serious about this too.

"Anyway, what I'm saying is you gave me hope again, probably too much really when it came to trusting others. So I tried to ignore Delta and pushed for Ryan, again, too much. Especially when you and Lilly had your doubts. But then again she was probably part of the reason."

The last part of her sentence confused Clementine briefly, and she found herself asking after an explanation while finally grabbing and stepping into her jeans.

"Lilly made you want Ryan?"

"I guess, in a way. Like after everything she did, you, forgave her. Or at least gave her a second chance. So I thought, fuck it. Ryan should have at least a first... turns out I managed to find the one person willing to do worse than burn down a school full of children."

Clementine kept tight lipped, but was reminded from Violets statement that Lilly had actually done the exact same thing to Mitch that Ryan had done to Tenn. The one and only saving grace being it was reactionary self defence.

"So when we were back upstairs before and I got down. It wasn't just about the mess. I'm just so fucking torn. We've got so much land here. Potential to build a community. But that would mean more people coming in before we could even begin to have the manpower for making that a reality. And more people, means giving trust that I don't know I'll ever have again after Ryan."

Violet ended here, waiting patiently then for a reply as she had to know it was a lot for not only Clementine to take in, but also form a convincing rhetoric.

For her it wasn't even so much about trusting new people to come in and build a community. She'd seen it done plenty of times before with Wellington, Prescott, and despite their tyrannical leaders, Howes and Richmond too.

More of her issue was the likelihood that their efforts would eventually all be for nought. The Greenbrier, should they turn it into a fortress, would become a target. And just like Prescott, Richmond and Howes, it would crumble. She wondered briefly after the fate of Wellington.

"I had no idea you were dealing with all this, Vi." She said finally. Violet shrugged, no hint of resentment in the gesture.

"I was doing a pretty good job of keeping on top of it. Until I wasn't." She replied, matter of factly. Though Clem wondered it more likely that she had just been too busy to notice. She took a moment before trying to articulate her own concerns.

"Honestly, I'm not so sure it would ever be a good idea anyway, Vi. At least not for a long time. I mean, we're all still settling in, Emryns adamant The Homecoming are showing up again. For now we might just be better off down here by ourselves. If we can fix the power that is..."

"Or scavenge a lifetime supply of Yankee candles..." Vi quipped before continuing with resignation. "No, you're right. I guess it's pointless anyway now I barely trust the toes on the end of my feet."

Violet made a move to get to them then and Clementine joined her, attempting to hearten her spirits, albeit cautiously.

"That will come back to you, you know. It might not feel like it now but some day another 'me' will come along. You'll heal. And when you do, maybe then we can talk about making this something bigger?"

Vi smiled while simultaneously raising a disbelieving eyebrow. "There will never be another you. Besides, I wouldn't want one. I'm happy with the Clementine I have." She said, lovingly.

"But you understand my point though." Clementine responded, glowing hot again at Violets admiration. Vi nodded and the two embraced, resolving to put potential problems of the future on the backburner for at least tonight.

Violet walked towards the door then and opened it again, her head peering around the corner for a moment before she addressed Clementine. "Lights on!" She beamed, holding out her hand for Clementine to take. "Shall we?"

"I don't know, shall we?" Clementine answered sarcastically, wondering what on earth Louis could have planned for them all and hoping he hadn't somehow found a way to put naked aquatic dance moves back on the schedule.

*

Clementine and Violet approached 720 Deep hand in hand, it's entrance cloaked by the same two curtains that Louis had originally ripped down to tether up the piano with earlier in the day.

They could see as they neared that the flashlight had been propped and angled to face the curtains, casting a spotlight upon them. It was a nice touch, and left Clementine smiling as she realised how similiar Louis and Lilly were when it came to fixating on the details.

Except while Louis' expertise fell very much in party planning, Lilly's stayed firmly rooted not only in interrogation, but also in being an unbelievable dead shot when it most counted. She tried to imagine the two of them together and had to stifle laughter. They could at least collaborate on a killer funeral. If Lilly could tolerate Lou long enough for it to not have been his they'd inadvertently planned, she thought.

Clem allowed her musing to segue into realisation that the host himself was nowhere to be seen for the second time that day, causing both she and Vi to slow to an idle pace as they did however spy his aid come security standing slack shouldered by the entrance; his chest ballooning up again rather comically upon noticing their presence.

"How's it going, AJ?" Vi asked warmly as Clementine let go of her hand to move in for a hug after not seeing him for the better part of the day. It was amusing to watch him renege almost immediately on his supposedly intimidating stance in order to reciprocate the greeting.

"Good, except my feet are getting tired now" He began next to Clementines ear, she barely even needing to bend down into him these days. She wondered again how long it'd be before she was craning her neck to look him in the eye.

"Lou didn't give you a chair?" She asked, peturbed at the thought that AJ had only been used to stand by guarding the door since Louis had acquired his service that morning. Even moreso knowing the latter had spent some time between sneaking around with Sophie.

"No... it's okay though. Now that you're both here I only have to wait for, uhm, Minnie and Sophie. Then Louis said me and him can go in together" He replied, trepidation noticeable in his voice upon mentioning the former twins name.

AJ hadn't quite managed to stop staring back down the pitch dark hall the final pair of guests had yet to emerge from by the time Clementine straightened back to a stand, the resulting concern and to an extent, guilt, causing her to give him an out of the situation.

"You go inside, Kiddo. We'll wait out here for Minnie. And I promise to talk to her before the end of tomorrow about letting you see Tenn. Okay? It's just been a little crazy since I first said, and well, tonights for fun, right?" She said sincerely, though AJ eventually repelled her offer despite clearly wanting to accept.

"I'll be alright, Clem. Anyway Louis said nobody can go inside until they change, including me, so..." He answered, tailing off at the latter part of his reply despite his initial attempt to front up.

"What do you mean by change?" Violet questioned, AJ's last words apparently piquing her interest enough for her to voice her wonder, though AJ elaborated no further than to repeat what he had clearly been fed by Louis. He pointed a finger across his body and down the remainder of the unlit hall.

"Take your last left, and then your first into the only room along. Louis will be waiting. That's all I'm allowed to say." He instructed, pudgy cheeks slipping into a mischievous grin despite the looming arrival of Minnie.

"Oh god..." Violet groaned, cautiously beginning to take steps in the required direction anyway. It was plainly clear she was brimming with as much dread as Clementine, for whatever Louis had waiting for them had managed even for a second, to some how distract AJ from his impending contact with the often fractiously found twin.

Clementine hung back, deliberating on the best course of action. She didn't want anything to kick off with Minnie and AJ tonight, and while Clem had her own volatile relationship with the redhead, she figured she'd at least be able to keep things amicable between them until confronting her the next day.

She settled on a decision that lined up with this thinking. "AJ, you go with Violet, and I'll wait here. Don't worry - I won't peek inside the party and I'll make sure Minnie and Sophie know the rules... if that's okay with you, Vi?" Clementine added, knowing that she was asking her to play babysitter yet again.

She assumed it would be okay though, as ever since their talk on the ridge Clem had made a purposeful effort wherever possible to make sure she wasn't just palming AJ off on her when she had to juggle her commitments.

To her surprise however, Vi's response proved to reject her request, and yet not in the worst of ways. "It would be, but I think it might be better for us all to just hang back instead. See what Lou has in store together." She offered to compromise. Clementine wasn't initially sold on the idea, so Violet went on.

"It'll be fine, Clem. Look, I know you're wary but Min isn't going to try any shit. Not with me and Sophie here. Sophie's pretty good at making her see reason and well, you've probably noticed I can still make her re-pin the grenade when she's about to go off." She implored.

Clementine wasn't sure so much on the swing Sophie had but she'd indeed seen the proof of Violet successfully getting Minnie to bite her tongue. She had been ready to concede to her pitch when a bodiless and yet familiar voice startled the three of them.

"You can't re-pin a grenade" It said, as Clem whipped around quickly to identify the topic of conversation sauntering in from the darkness; stopping at the outlier of the flashlights far facing beam so her visage was barely discernable.

The rasp of her tone was the only way in the moment to confirm it was she and not her sister. Violet was the first to respond to the intrusion while Clementine instinctively moved closer to AJ; Minnie glancing only momentarily in his direction as she listened to the attempt to sufficiently cover their line of conversation.

"Oh, hey, Min. I, uh, I didn't hear you coming. Is Soph not with you?" She tacked on, noticing her non arrival. Minnie stepped forward slightly, lighting up her features in more substantial detail as a result.

They were arranged to be as uninviting as always, but burnout was evident in the rings beneath her eyes, so dark at first that Clementine mistook them for literal shadows cast by the flashlight upon her noticeably overly peaky complexion.

"You were listening out for me coming?" Minerva asked, half twisting Vi's words in the process. It had been a week, and yet even with putting aside their so far unspoken spat, any miniscule sense of longing Clementine might've had to be face to face with Minnie had already begun to rapidly fall away now that she was.

"That's not what I said." Violet responded almost lazily, she long wise now to her ex girlfriends combative personality. Minnie gave a look back that said Vi may as well have before eventually addressing the question of the missing twin.

"Haven't seen my dear sister much since this afternoon. She ducked her head in to our room earlier saying she'd be back to walk down with me but so far she hasn't shown her clone ass face and I'm tired of waiting to get blitzed off mine."

Faint laughter from behind the curtains followed then, causing Minerva to eye them up, tilting her head and squinting her eyes in a paranoid attempt to glean whether it had been in reaction to her previous statement.

Clementine took the slight window of opportunity to net AJs attention during the ultimately fruitless endeavour, asking her question successfully without words while he answered back with barely a mumble. "She hasn't passed me." He said, in reference to the much meeker twin.

It left her to guess that the two lovebirds were continuing to do a quite terrible job at keeping their romance from being stumbled upon - and potentially within minutes too if they didn't hear the group approaching in time to figuratively, and perhaps literally cover themselves.

"So how come you're all hanging out here in the hall anyway?" Minnie asked, pointedly back to Violet. She'd said 'all' and yet had so far acted as if Clementine and AJ hadn't been picked up on her radar. It was an act that suited Clementine, at least for tonight. Violet answered half honestly.

"Louis apparently has some hoops for us to jump through in the surgery room before we're allowed in with the rest of them." She replied, with a sternness that said Minerva wasn't to consider herself exempt from the requirements.

"Ah, of course he does." Minerva griped, it was clear she was unsurprised to hear that Lou was being wilfully fastidious in his self appointed role as party host. "So what are the odds he wants to probe us?"

"Ugh, seriously, Min?" Violet objected, making it clear the process that she had involuntarily pictured the act.

Clementine herself turned away for a moment, cringing at the odds that Minnie would soon be greeted by a scar inducing scene of Louis doing exactly that to her own sister. Minnie smirked. "No actually, it was just a joke. So relax, Prudence."

She darted forward suddenly afterward, fooling Clementine into believing she was gunning for the curtain, causing her to stick out an arm to prevent her doing so. The redhead pulled up barely a hairs length short of collision, reaching a lanky limb around Clementine to instead take the flashlight from the table.

"Just grabbing this... I mean we don't want to trip over each other in the dark again do we?" She asked, calling back on an 'accident' that had happened in the cavern they'd been taking refuge in while trying to escape The Homecoming.

Minnie flipped it upright between them abruptly as she spoke, the newly concentrated brightness causing Clementine to see blots in her field of vision momentarily after she'd turned away from the source.

She batted at the flashlight aimlessly, causing Minnie to it turn away.

"Sorry!" She said, quite insincerely as Clementine regained complete sight, using it to lock eyes with the irritant for the first time in a long week. She fought the urge to verbalise her vexation, the urge to speak on her thoughts of as to how Minerva could look so exhausted, and yet continue to be so exhausting.

Clementine could tell just by looking at the way she stood, trying subtley to use her shoulder to cradle one side of her normally proud standing body that she was feeling fragile.

And yet still willing to throw away a weeks worth of avoidance within a matter of minutes, and simply because she virtually always felt compelled to have all the attributes of a jagged edged rock when around Clementine.

Violet stepped up to temper down the building animosity. "Be a little more careful, hey, Min." She said, reaching forward to take the flashlight.

In the process her hand - perhaps even purposely, touched on Minnie's, the latter then looking away from Clementine to acknowledge what would have once been a familiar and intimate act. A few short moments of stasis elapsed while Minnie refused to let go of the flashlight.

Eventually though she yanked her grip backwards, possibly with the intention of pulling Violet off balance into her, but the latter let go soon enough. "I'll be careful." Minnie assured, flippantly and weaving her way past the huddle of three.

Few people had ever gotten under the skin of Clementine so easily as Minerva, and yet she didn't follow through on the impulse to trip her up as she passed by, for Violets love came easier, her caress on her arm sedating her umbrage near instantly as they followed.

Their wander was slow towards their destination, mostly because Clem was the one setting the pace. Needing the time to think of a viable way to warn Louis and Sophie of their impending arrival without tipping off those present.

She reeled through ideas as they turned the corner, the window of opportunity shrinking, though short of pretending to have a heart attack she struggled to grasp a workable option.

She wasn't even sure why she was really taking on the burden, if the two did get caught it would be their own problem for being so incompetent at keeping their romantic accord a secret. And yet here she was, ready to keel over.

That was until the strangest memory pulled up in her minds eye of she, Mike and Bonnie back at the Parkers Run Museum. Of the raccoon they had failed to capture (and thankfully so when Clementine realised it had a family).

The animal hadn't spooked her for so much as a second, and yet with less than fifteen feet between themselves and the door to the surgery room, she would pretend to scare as well as she had when flipping the channels as a young child to be faced with two bananas in pyjamas walking down a set of stairs.

Clementine had planned to have a much less embarassing idea to execute, but it was now or never. She drew in breath and exhaled out a sharp and very uncharactersic screech, reversing so quickly that both Violet and Minnie bowled into her, sending them into a tangle on the concrete floor while the flashlight hit with a crack.

They were immediately plunged into complete darkness, with the following commotion both verbally raucous and disorientated. "What in the hell!" Min called into the black, exhasperated.

Clem attempted to apologise over the scuffle but was drowned out by Violets expletive laiden squark for whoever had their elbow in her kidney to lift the pressure back off of it.

She felt a small hand graze her ear for a split second before it settled on pulling at the hood of the denim jacket she was wearing. AJ, having avoided being taken down was trying to help free her from the knot she had caused but was only succeeding in choking her.

She used her flat palms on the ground to force herself from underneath the bottom of the pile before AJ managed to incompacitate her, panting from his unknowing attempt. "Sorry!" She said again, this time being heard and flailing for one of two bodies to help up.

"Why did you scream like that!?" Violet demanded shrilly from her right, tipping Clementine off that she'd found the wrist of Minnie. Gritting her teeth she continued to help her up, letting go the second she sensed she was upright.

"Sorry!" Clementine repeated truthfully before lying in her next breath. "I saw a freaking raccoon! The flashlight caught it for a second and it just scared the crap out of me!" She claimed, giving a vocal performance that Lou would surely owe her one for if it had helped

Violet exhaled deeply, it was clear she'd only initially reacted so harshly through fear for Clementines safety, who flailed until she found Violets shoulder, resting then a hand on it to help calm her. "How's a raccoon going to find its way in here?" Minnie questioned, skeptically.

"Beats me. All I know is you lit the beady eyed thing up and it came at me trying to get away or something." Clem shrugged defensively despite nobody being able to see. The sound of glass shards could be heard beneath their feet as AJ found the torch, confirming it was broken.

"Well if it wasn't important enough to fix the generator before, it's definitely going to be now." Violet said, saltily. The truth was they were at the last of their stockpile of candles and one solitary flashlight between twelve wasn't going to cut it for any length of time at all.

"That was going to be the plan for tomorrow anyway." Clementine answered, distracted in hoping she'd done enough to tip Louis and Sophie off, if indeed they had been in the middle of anything. "Look can we just go see what Lou wants before the probably rabied riddled thing comes back for our ankles?" She asked, wondering if she was professing the phantom raccoons existence a little too much.

"Shit, didn't even think of rabies." Minnie replied now, signalling to Clem that her lie may have been successfully bought after all, even if it was just based on the fear of suffering a different type of fatal bite.

"What's rabies?" AJ asked, unable to contain his quizzicle nature.

"It's like a disease you can get from some wild animals if they bite you." Clementine explained while they advanced the last few steps to the surgery room, the frosted glass of its door pane glowing orange slightly from what had to be a burning candle from within.

"Like that dog that bit you?" He queried, throwing her back for a split second to the nightmarish ordeal of wrestling for her life against its jaws before the truly harrowing moment she had to put it out of its misery after she accidentally impaled it's side on a pole.

"Sam wasn't always wild. He just had an owner that died. He didn't have rabies either, and I'd have known pretty quickly if he did. He was just crazy hungry." She reassured, all the while making sure she was first to the door.

She stood there hesitantly, feeling the rest waiting at her shoulder. The door itself was slightly ajar but she knocked anyway, just in case. "Why are you doing that?" Minnie asked, impatiently.

"Yeah, Clem. Just go inside." Violet added, pushing the small of her back lightly. She complied, surely having done enough, and yet inching open the door anyway, hoping for at worst a PG13 scene.

*

Naturally, Lilly had been the one (self appointed) to take inventory of all stock and supplies when the group had first joined Nate in the bunker, so it was Clems first venture into the surgery room. And even by non-apocalyptic standards, it looked to be almost state of the art, only on a somewhat smaller scale.

There were six hospital beds, each with tall and robust looking machines beside them, kitted out with two screens that would otherwise be monitoring things Clem could only wish to make sense of had they had the required power.

Glass cabinets lined the far wall, though they were all glaringly empty. Again it would've left Clem feeling uneasy if she'd not already learned about Nate's deal to offload the commodities in exchange for food. She could only hope part of said deal included emergency usage of the traded goods should he (and now by extension they) ever find themselves in dire straits. But then again with no more now left to exchange, the hope was futile.

The beds themselves were almost fully shrouded by cubicle curtains, hanging on rails to less than a foots height from the vinyl flooring. The room looked in almost pristine condition and was the clearest indication the place had been maintained right up until the outbreak.

Louis stood in the centre, and thankfully for everybody he was both alone and fully dressed. Though Clementine figured there were high odds Sophie was hiding somewhere inside. And there were few sure places to do so short of the extreme measure of hollowing out one of the hospital bed mattresses to climb inside.

He pirouetted to face them as they filed into the room; beaming to the point of almost appearing menacing. "GUYS!" He exclaimed, beckoning them all towards him as if his current clandestinity would burst from his chest if he didn't spill it from his lips sooner.

Clementine, AJ and Vi all reciprocated the greeting and followed his lead to make a small audience before him though Minnie was a little less accomodating.

"I'm thirsty, Lou. Why are we here?" She asked, rudely. Louis played his ace immediately in return.

"Do you want to stay that way? Because I can strike you off the guest list with a flick of my wrist!" He said. The warning was tongue in cheek, but Minnie fell silent off the back of it anyway.

"That's what I thought" Louis replied, truimphantly before returning to script, surveying his friends. "Now, first and foremost, welcome to Lou's Tailors! Glad to have you all here!" He announced, spreading his arms to full wingspan as if he had an emporium at his back and not simply several cubicle curtains.

"Lou's tailors? Really? Are you planning on renaming every room down here?" Violet asked, amused. Louis shrugged in return, undeterred.

"You know what? I just might do! A little imagination and we could make this less a hole and more a home." He answered, sincerely. Minnie predictably scoffed at the admittedly far-fetched desire.

"Home? More like a mall complex." She asserted, to which Clem found it hard to disagree. Especially when there was already a room in the bunker laid out with seats akin to a movie theaters'.

Only instead of a projector screen at the front, it was a podium. Lilly had assumed it to have been a place for all the powers that be to have gathered for meetings or official announcements. Knowing Louis he would almost certainly want to turn it into an actual theater.

"I like your thinking! We could even have a bowling alley!" Louis said, choosing to take Minerva's sarcasm well in his stride. "But seriously, entry to the party is right around the corner. It's just there's a dress code and well, you guys aren't in it."

He paused to take in the reaction of the group, wearing collective confusion on their faces. All aside from AJ, who being in on the secret, smiled from ear to ear waiting for Louis to continue dropping the bombshell. Which he did.

"But it just so happens, I can help with that. See these curtains?" He thumbed over his shoulder to them. "Behind each one is a little something that better fits the, shall we say, class of party 720 Deep will strive to become known for."

"Expecting word to reach far and wide then?" Clementine asked, trying to indulge his grandiosity. Louis grinned, appreciative of her doing so.

"If tonights grand opening is a booming success, I should see no reason why it wouldn't!" He replied before continuing on with his performance. "Now, as for which curtain you get, that is up to you. Though I must advise Young Sir here to choose curtain number five or things could get a little embarassing."

He finished, and Clem looked around to find Violet appearing quite dumbfounded at the transpiring events. "How do you even come up with this stuff, Lou?" She asked, disbelievingly.

"What can I say. Whatever I lack in hard work I make up for in ingenuity. Now, get your square butt in one of those cubicles already." Louis answered, quite happy to rush them now that his introduction was over and done with.

"My ass is not square!" Vi complained. It was an assertion that Clem very much agreed with having had it sit on her face, but in present company she bit her lip.

She was the first to step forward. "Okay, Lou. I'll play the game." She said.

The cubicles weren't numbered but she assumed the order went front to back, and left to right. Number Five was off limits so, testing a theory she started toward Number Six instead.

Predictably Louis darted in front of her path as she passed the point of cubicles Three and Four. She could tell he hadn't thought up an excuse for that particular one being off the table so she decided to save his blushes. "No little something in there, huh?" She asked.

"Ah, uhm, no. Sorry. I didn't have enough to hang in every cubicle." Louis lied, his wide set nostrils flaring with fear. Clem smiled as she span back around to choose another, it wasn't often anyone could make him uncomfortable.

Vi and Minerva had already reluctantly chosen their cubicles, standing before numbers one and three respectively, so Clementine wandered over to number four. She figured they would all come out looking and feeling silly regardless.

"Okay, you are now free to slip behind your curtains! Don't let anybody else see what you've got until you come out though!" Louis ordered.

"I never knew you loved having power so much, Lou." Clementine joked as she placed a hand on her curtain.

"Only the power to pull off a proper party!" He fired back.

Clementine rolled her eyes before following Louis' direction and disappearing from view. The sound of multiple rings scraped along their rails giving her grima, but also letting her know that the others had followed suit. Then there was silence, for all of about three seconds.

"You're not serious with this!?" Violet called out, incredulous at having seen whatever Louis had picked out.

He however confirmed that he was via a comment directed more at Clementine than she. "I did say I'd outdone myself didn't I, Clem! What were you expecting Vi?" He laughed, revelling in the initial reaction. Surprisingly, Minerva's was much more favourable.

"Damn Lou. This is classy as hell! And Greens my favourite colour too! Where'd you find this shit?" She asked while Clem had the rather obnoxious thought that Green reflected her jealous tendencies more than anything.

Clementine hadn't even looked at what she'd been fated with yet, having spotted small traces of blood on the inside of the cubicle curtain. There wasn't a lot, and she would have otherwise missed it if she hadn't taken a candle in with her.

There were only spots and Clementine remembered that Lacey-Mae had almost certainly been brought in there to tend to her amputation the night before.

She could only hope that they had been quick enough to save her from the spreading infection, if indeed she had actually been bit.

Clem turned to face the hospital bed immediately behind her as Violet continued to complain with increasing humour to Louis about the attire he would be requiring her to wear for the rest of the night.

A dress had been laid out over the bed, navy blue and striking. It was certainly something she had never had the chance to even think of wearing. And yet with their current safety ensured, she was happy to be able to.

She picked it up delicately, holding it against herself. It was slim fitting yet flared at the bottom, the front sitting higher than the back to about half the length of her thigh. Whoever it had belonged to couldn't have been much taller or indeed thicker than she.

It appeared to have no shoulders or straps. Though considering the overall fitting nature Clementine surmised it would cling nicely off of her own.

She couldn't contain a smile to herself, that they could be so secure as to be putting on dresses and going to parties, even if it was largely in the dark.

Clementine lay the dress back down and began fighting to get her jeans off over her boots, then negotiating her way out of her top after deliberating whether or not she could get away with keeping it on under the dress. She hadn't been looking for one, but Clementine found a concealed zip down the side, making it much easier to slip into.

She pulled and tugged at the dress until she felt as comfortable in it as was to be expected, even having to rearrange her bust slightly to ease the way the material constricted across her chest.

Then Clementine stood, looking down at herself. It was strange to be in clothing and yet still be able to see the bandages around the bottom of her thigh. To feel fabric against her stomach instead of it hanging loosely away. It all certainly left her feeling more girly and dainty than she'd ever done before.

She listened to Vi still huffing and puffing through her change. While Minnie's self appreciation sounded so strong that any one could be forgiven for thinking she hadn't been radiating some kind of pain or disquiet for the last week.

Clementine gave herself one last look over before stepping out from behind her cubicle self conciously. She was the first one to do so. Louis' eyes lit up like a boy on prom night, but she didn't blame him, it was likely the closest he'd get to one.

"Wow. Check you out, Clementine! That dress is perfect. And I don't believe I've ever had the pleasure of meeting your shoulders before!" He complimented, in his own humorous way.

"There's no way on earth you convinced Lilly to wear one of these things" She responded. He could be persuasive, but he wasn't that wily with his words.

"I tried, but in the end, we were able to come to a compromise." He said, only slightly downhearted. Clementine was about to ask what that had been when Minnie burst forth from her cubicle.

Her dress was elegant beyond belief, and Emerald Green as she'd described. It puffed out at her hips much the same as Clementines, only Minnies fell down to her knees. It also had straps on the shoulders, but a V-neckline that bared more than Clementine would've been comfortable with herself.

She hadn't come into contact with too many different fabrics over the years but the dress looked to be largely made up of some kind of lace pattern that coupled with the Emerald, would have made Minnie's skin look even snowier than it normally did if she was stood under a more powerful light source.

"I would say you look incredible too, Min but I fear I'd be stealing your thunder." Louis observed while she stood admiring herself top to bottom.

"You're damn right! I look fucking dope. Some heels and my pins would look even better." Minnie responded.

"I mean, I could go scour some out from upstairs... just thought heels would be a little too much to ask tonight. I'll bear it in mind for next time!" Louis promised.

"I'm good, barefeet works." Minne said, completely unapologetic that they weren't exactly immaculate.

AJ sidled out from his own cubicle then, dressed up like an eight year old 007, if the suit in question had been crumpled in a ball for the prior decade that was. And still, he managed to look dapper, even without the bowtie.

"AJ! You look so smart!" Clementine said, proudly. He smiled and walked over to her with a spring in his step, offering his own somewhat complimentary words.

"You look funny! But good." He said, but Clementine didn't take issue. His young vocabulary didn't yet extend to 'beautiful' or even 'pretty'.

Louis leaned into Clementine, quieting his voice. "It took me SO long to find something for him. I almost gave up." He informed. She was glad he didn't.

Minerva stopped checking herself out then to almost snap at Violet. "Vi, get your ass out here already! I feel like I'm getting cotton-mouth or some shit" She ordered, her temerity wholly offsetting her beauty once again in Clementines eyes.

"SHUT the fuck up!" Violet answered, hotly, the folds of her cubicle curtains moving around erratically.

"Are you okay in there, Vi?" Clem asked, walking closer toward it, the hem of her dress lightly brushing against her thighs with each step. Violets response was still one of frustration, and yet more tender than Minerva had recieved.

"Yes- I mean, no. It's- this fucking zip! I can't get it up." She bemoaned, sounding defeated. Clementine hesitated.

"Do you want me to help with that?" She asked, standing just on the other side of the curtain now. Violet accepted, and Clem rotated herself through it quickly until they stood alone together in a way they'd never seen each other before.

"Clem, you- wow. You look so amazing. I mean you always do- it's just I've never seen you like this- obviously." Violet said, her frustration draining suddenly.

Clementine blushed hard as she took her turn to take in her girlfriend. She wasn't holding herself particularly flatteringly, and yet despite this, she still managed to look matchless in her eyes.

Her dress was blush pink, an immediate tick in the box as to why Violet had had an adverse reaction upon seeing it. It was short to about the length of Clementines but with only a slightly less revealing V- neckline than Minerva's had.

The waist was high and cinched, a vague and embroidered pattern all over. It was stunning, and yet apparently not at all to Violet's taste. "You look perfect too, Vi." Clementine admired, honestly.

"I don't feel it." She muttered back, while Clem placed her hands on her shoulders, pivoting her body until she found the zip. It had snagged halfway up her back.

"Well you are. Whether you're in washed out jeans, or a pretty pink dress. You're perfect to me." Clementine replied. Violet sighed, waiting while the zip was being carefully worked free.

"It's just a bit of fun, Vi, try not to worry too much about it. We all feel silly, but hey, we could be in worse situations than dressing up and going to a party." Clem continued, trying to soften her as the zip slipped free from the material it'd been caught on then. She pulled it up the teeth until it topped out just underneath her shoulder blades.

"Done." Clem said softly, wrapping her arms around Violet's waist and holding her tightly. The latter allowed her head to tilt back onto Clementine's bare shoulder, chest rising slowly as she breathed in deeply again, contemplating.

"Okay. I can do that. A couple glasses and I should loosen up anyway, right?" She conceded finally. Clem was quick to agree as Minnie barked again from outside.

"Are you helping her to fix a zip in there or find a fucking feather duster? I'm out, Lou. See you later." She complained, at the end of her short tether.

"Don't you dare touch any of that booze until I get there!" Louis called after her, as the door could be heard swinging open. A faint 'whatever' echoed back to them. She had thankfully gone for the moment, taking her foul attitude with her.

Violet allowed Clementine to lead her out to be fawned over by Louis. His sincerity toward her a welcome change of pace, possibly having overheard the two girls prior conversation.

"Looking picture perfect, Vi" He assured her, making sure to carefully avoid any words that described her as being overly feminine. "It's a shame we haven't got a polaroid actually. I'd love to have a group picture of us all." It was a nice thought, but next to impossible.

"That would be something" Clementine replied, before addressing his lack of upscale attire. "Are you not joining us?" She asked, having should've known better.

"Of course I am! I'll be in my penguin suit as soon as you give me the privacy." He said matter of factly, pointing out their now idling states. "Go keep Minnie off the drink until I get there?"

The trio that still remained nodded, all making their way through the door and heading down the hallway to see what other kind of crazy ideas Lou had been able to execute.

Clem pedalled back on herself briefly however as Vi and AJ carried on, unable to contain the knowledge she had. "Hey, Lou" She said, returning to the doorway but not quite startling him. "Thanks for this" She drew his attention to her dress before continuing, though her thanks included him putting on the party too.

"But in future, you might want to think ahead a little" She advised, though Louis didn't appear to realise what she was getting at to begin with.

"What's that?" He asked, either bemused or doing a good job of feigning it.

Clementine curled her lip, thinking how best to show him up. She cleared her throat, making her voice a little louder so that it carried to cubicle six.

"You can come out now, Sophie." She almost sang as Louis looked on. There were only a few moments of waiting before she noted movement behind the curtain, and eventually, the redheads pixie-like cut appearing from under it, clearly having been hiding beneath the bed.

"How did you know?" She asked, shocked as if their secrecy had been iron clad. Clementine clued her in.

"Nate told me. He heard you guys talking in the hallway earlier." She explained, watching the realisation dawn on both of their faces.

"Well, shit." Sophie said, both bluntly and unbothering to get up from her position laying chest down on the floor. It was hard to tell whether she was dressed like the rest of them, or indeed at all.

"I mean, I don't care and really I'm not sure why you guys care so much about keeping it a secret, but if you do want to keep it this way then you might wanna get a little smarter about where and when. Otherwise you could get caught with your pants down... figuratively and literally." Clementine finished to bewilderment surfacing on Sophie's face.

"What do you mean, literally?" She asked, pulling herself out from behind the curtains now - she was dressed, but in her own regular clothes.

Clementine felt as if she shouldn't need to elaborate, but she did so at Sophie's behest. "Well, you know, I mean when you two are, I guess, getting it on-" She was cut off then by Louis practically bursting into laughter while Sophie pulled a face approaching absurdity at the insinuation.

"I'm sorry, what!?" Louis spluttered through his amusement.

"Wait, you think- we are seeing each other?" Sophie added.

Clementine hesitated, unsure if they were calling her bluff. "Nate said he heard you two talking about not telling Minnie, not letting her find out your secret." she said, to which Louis let out an even more enthusiastic howl.

"I've got the wrong end of the stick here haven't I..." Clementine realised, feeling thoroughly stupid. Sophie nodded with a wry smile as she walked over to set the record straight.

"Royally." Sophie agreed. "The secret is that I've been helping Louis here to plan this party." She revealed then, putting an arm around him, mocking Clementines incorrect assumption.

"Well... why keep it a secret??" She asked, unable to make sense of the covertness of the operation, especially when it was for Minnie's sake.

"Well, because originally the party was to celebrate you going two weeks without coffee" Sophie began to explain. "And well, Min's kinda had a bug up her butt about you for the past couple of weeks one way or another, recently to the point of making us avoid you. We just didn't want her getting pissed at me for helping Louis plan 'your' party" Sophie finished, air quoting the mention of her name, as really the party was for everyone.

Clementine felt stupid. One for being incredibly wide of the mark, and second for not thinking people would walk on eggshells in the face of Minnie's passive aggressiveness.

"I'm... gonna go now." Clem announced, hoping to slink away with her obvious embarassment. Though Louis had some final words to make her face flush even hotter as he returned Sophies hand around the shoulder.

"Are you sure? I mean, if you just wait a couple minutes you might catch us both with our pants down!" He needled, leaving Clementine almost cringing her way back to Violet and AJ.


End file.
